THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

CHARLES  HITCHCOCK  SHERKILL 


Other  Books  by  the  Same  Author 

FRENCH    MEMORIES  OF    18tH    CENTURY 

AMERICA 
MODERNIZING    THE    MONROE   DOCTRINE 
HAVE    WE    A    FAR    EASTERN    POLICY? 
STAINED    GLASS    TOURS    IN    FRANCE 
STAINED    GLASS    TOURS    IN    ENGLAND 
A    STAINED    GLASS    TOUR    IN   ITALY 


^:^:0ie'*^*f''"-W£^ 


Sir  Wm.  Goscomle  John,  Sculpt. 


DAVID  LLOYD  GEORGE 

The  British   Tiime  Minister 


PRIME  MINISTERS 
AND  PRESIDENTS 


BY 

CHARLES  HITCHCOCK  SHERRILL 


NEW  Xar  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY   GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES  OF   AMERICA 


4I2.Q 


DEDICATED 

BY    HIS    CONSENT 

TO 

WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING 

PRESIDENT    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 


§i 


i'J'igsce 


INTRODUCTION 

IN  this  book  the  reader  will  meet  fifteen  Prime 
Ministers  and  four  Presidents  of  Europe,  four 
British  Dominion  Premiers,  and  eleven  distin- 
guished statesmen  and  diplomats  of  Japan,  and  he 
will  enter  the  Chanceries  and  Foreign  Offices  in 
many  Capitals. 

The  treaty  of  Versailles  has  been  greatly  criti- 
cised, but  regardless  of  that  document's  merits, 
its  existence  has  certainly  benefited  Europe  for  one 
reason,  often  overlooked — its  preparation  brought 
together  in  Paris  all  the  leading  statesmen  of  the 
Allies,  which  meant  the  forming  of  many  new  ac- 
quaintanceships among  them,  and  some  friendships. 
Never  in  the  lifetime  of  living  men,  perhaps  never 
at  all,  have  there  come  into  personal  contact  so 
many  of  the  dignitaries  controlling  the  destinies  of 
so  many  European  countries.  These  acquaintance- 
ships cannot  fail  to  facilitate  relations  between  these 
men  for  the  rest  of  their  political  lives, — and  cer- 
tain of  them  bid  fair  to  be  politically  long  lived! 

[ix] 


INTRODUCTION 

Fortunate  indeed  were  those  Americans  who 
were  privileged  during  that  conference  to  meet 
these  foreign  leaders.  But  those  ministers  so  as- 
sembled in  Paris,  far  from  home  environment,  their 
sense  of  authority  cramped  by  the  crowding  of  many 
others  likewise  in  authority,  were  not, — could  not 
be  the  personalities  they  are  when  in  their  own 
capitals  they  are  conducting  the  government  of  their 
own  countries.  The  time  to  see  a  machine  is  when 
it  is  installed  and  performing  the  service  for  which 
it  was  manufactured,  not  when  it  is  on  view  in  a 
World's  Fair — not  when  it  has  its  "company  man- 
ners" on,  and  it  is  occupying  an  exhibition  space 
limited  by  the  need  for  many  similar  spaces  at  the 
same  fair.  There  is  no  manner  of  doubt  that  a 
Prime  Minister  or  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
observed  at  some  meeting  in  Paris,  or  in  one  of  its 
numerous  hotels  crowded  with  other  foreign  guests, 
is  a  very  different  personality  from  the  same  man 
seated  in  his  own  Ministry  with  the  emblems  and 
atmosphere  of  dignity  and  power  all  about  him. 

If  we  are  disposed  to  study  these  men  from  an 

angle  fair  to  them  and  instructive  to  us,  let  us  by 

all  means  do  so  in  their  own  capitals,  among  their 

own  people,  so  as  at  the  same  time  to  envisage  the 

[x] 


INTRODUCTION 

leaders  and  their  backgrounds,  the  representatives 
and  the  represented.  Thus  best  will  they  incar- 
nate dominant  public  opinion,  and  best  teach  us 
those  lessons  which  every  European  people  of  to- 
day has  to  offer.  Make  no  mistake,  there  is  none 
of  them  so  lacking  in  progressive  citizenship  as  to 
have  no  lesson  for  us,  while  some  are  already  far 
advanced  along  paths  we  have  only  begun  to  tread. 
Take  for  example  farming  co-operation  in  Den- 
mark, or  Government  insurance  in  Czecho-Slo- 
vakia,  or  combination  for  foreign  trade  in  Germany 
— we  are  far  in  the  rear. 

Now  that  we  have  decided  to  visit  these  leaders 
where  they  can  be  seen  in  action,  let  us  first  clear 
away  some  possible  misapprehensions  as  to  their 
functions.  In  the  first  place  the  duties  of  Euro- 
pean Ministers  for  Foreign  Affairs  are  all  pretty 
much  alike  and  so  also  is  the  relative  importance  of 
that  post  in  their  respective  Governments.  Theirs 
is  an  older  business  than  that  of  Prime  Ministers, 
for  they  existed  long  before  such  new  fangled  no- 
tions as  constitutional  monarchies  and  republics 
introduced  the  need  for  such  a  Minister,  at  least 
in  the  modern  sense.  In  a  few  countries  (France, 
Austria,  Sweden,  Czecho-Slovakia,  and  Bulgaria) 

[xi] 


INTRODUCTION 

the  same  individual  discharges  the  duties  of  both 
offices.  In  Bulgaria  he  furthermore  serves  as  Min- 
ister of  War.  Generally  speaking  wherever  we  go 
we  shall  find  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  a 
man  more  nearly  resembling  in  type  the  same  func- 
tionaries in  other  lands  than  will  be  true  of  Prime 
Ministers. 

Of  course  the  heads  of  the  Foreign  Offices  will 
vary  greatly  in  local  importance,  because  of  their 
personalities.  The  office  is  always  a  great  one, 
if  only  the  encumbent  measures  up  to  it.  In  this 
connection  it  is  well  to  recall  a  tale  concerning  the 
presiding  genius  of  the  Foreign  Office  set  up  in 
Paris  by  the  Commune.  He  was  a  pompous  soul 
and  called  himself  the  Minister  of  External  Rela- 
tions. A  contemporary  wag  remarked  that  al- 
though he  had  no  relations  with  anybody  because 
Paris  was  so  shut  in,  he  nevertheless  made  up  in 
externals  for  what  he  lacked  in  relations.  At  the 
risk  of  contradicting  the  London  Times  which,  in  a 
bitter  editorial  accused  Lord  Curzon,  head  of  the 
British  Foreign  Office,  of  being  pompous,  we  will 
stoutly  maintain  that  no  such  man  is  nowadays  to 
be  found  conducting  the  Foreign  Affairs  of  any  for- 
eign government.  The  changed  conditions  result- 
[xii] 


INTRODUCTION 

ing  from  the  war  have  created  a  demand  for  the 
highest  available  type  of  statesman  for  this  in- 
creasingly important  office,  and  in  more  than  one 
country,  notably  in  Romnania,  the  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  is  more  influential  than  the  presid- 
ing member  of  the  Cabinet. 

In  less  than  half  the  European  countries  the 
Prime  Minister,  variously  called  Chancellor  (in 
Germany  and  in  Austria)  Minister  of  State  (in 
Sweden)  or  Premier,  has  no  other  departmental 
portfolio.  This  is  true  in  the  three  countries  named, 
in  Greece,  Hungary,  Spain,  Roumania,  Jugo- 
slavia and  Poland.    It  is  also  true  in  Japan. 

Generally  the  Prime  Minister  is  permitted  to 
select  which  one  of  the  departments  he  prefers  to 
head.  We  will  do  well  to  notice  which  portfolio 
he  holds,  for  the  one  selected  is  significant  as  indi- 
cating the  relative  importance  there  enjoyed  by 
that  particular  ministry.  We  have  seen  that  France, 
Austria,  Sweden,  Czecho- Slovakia,  and  Bulgaria 
put  their  foreign  affairs  in  the  front  rank.  Eng- 
land domiciles  at  10  Downing  Street  (the  Prime 
Minister's  official  residence)  the  First  Lord  of  her 
Treasury,  while  his  prototype,  elsewhere  called 
Minister  of  Finance,  also  heads  the  Cabinet  in  Den- 

[xiii] 


INTRODUCTION 

mark.  In  Belgium  it  is  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
that  is  the  chief  Minister,  and  home  affairs  is  given 
the  same  distinction  in  Italy,  Portugal,  and  Hol- 
land. In  the  last  named  there  is  an  interesting  va- 
riation from  Cabinet  customs  elsewhere,  for  there 
no  one  is  chosen  as  permanent  head  of  the  Cabinet. 
The  theory  is  that  each  Minister  in  turn  shall  pre- 
side at  Cabinet  Meetings,  but  in  practice  each 
waives  his  right  in  favour  of  him  who  is  selected  to 
bear  the  official  designation  of  Acting  President. 
In  Norway  it  is  the  Minister  of  Justice  who  is  at 
the  same  time  Prime  Minister. 

Most  Americans  know  that  a  Prime  Minister  is 
a  man  chosen  because  he  can  control  a  working  ma- 
jority in  his  Parliament.  He  is  generally  asked  to 
undertake  that  duty  by  the  King  or  the  President, 
as  the  case  may  be;  but  if  on  attempting  to  fill  his 
Cabinet  with  men  supposedly  able  to  bring  sufficient 
political  support  to  ensure  his  majority,  that  result 
seems  doubtful,  then  the  designee  of  the  honour  in- 
forms the  chief  executive  that  he  cannot  go  on.  On 
rare  occasions  in  such  a  doubtful  case  they  decide  to 
undertake  the  responsibility  of  governing,  but  a 
vote  of  confidence  must  promptly  be  had,  and  if  it 
be  not  forthcoming,  out  goes  the  would-be  Prime 
[xiv] 


INTRODUCTION 

Minister  without  delay.  But,  you  will  say,  does  not 
there  sometimes  come  a  crisis  when  no  one  party 
or  man  can  control  enough  votes  in  Parliament  to 
make  a  majority  possible?  Certainly,  and  during 
1920  and  1921,  because  of  just  such  a  state  of  af- 
fairs in  both  Sweden  and  Czecho- Slovakia,  there 
functioned  a  Prime  Minister  who  frankly  admitted 
he  did  not  control  his  parliament.  But  both  of 
them.  Von  Sydow  the  Swede,  and  Cerny  the 
Czecho- Slovak,  were  men  of  demonstrated  ability 
as  administrators,  and  as  such  and  for  no  political 
reason  had  they  been  selected  by  party  compromise 
because,  for  the  time  being,  no  one  party  or  group 
of  elements  could  produce  a  sufficient  parliamen- 
tary majority  to  undertake  the  responsibility  of 
party  government.  So  even  then  was  the  balance 
between  the  parties  in  both  those  countries  that 
any  one  attempting  to  govern  on  party  lines  would 
promptly  have  met  an  adverse  vote.  Therefore 
they  wisely  went  outside  party  lines  and  installed  as 
temporary  chief  one  who  had  showed  ability  to  ad- 
minister the  government  until  such  time  as  some 
parliamentary  leader  should  develop  sufficient 
backing  to  venture  upon  taking  control. 

We  shall  see  as  we  go  on  our  travels  how  radi- 

[XV] 


INTRODUCTION 

cally  in  some  cases  war  has  changed  the  preroga- 
tives and  powers  of  the  Prime  Minister.  In  Eng- 
land we  shall  perhaps  conclude  that  Mr.  Lloyd 
George,  who  in  1916  went  to  Downing  Street  with 
no  responsibilities  save  to  a  parliamentary  major- 
ity at  Westminster,  has  found  his  already  high  of- 
fice developed  by  the  war  into  a  sort  of  presidency 
of  the  British  Empire  governing  "by  and  with  the 
consent"  of  the  Dominion  Premiers.  We  will  ar- 
rive in  Berlin  at  a  time  when  the  Cabinet  of  the 
new  Republic  under  Josef  Wirth  was  seeking  the 
support  of  German  "big  business"  in  order  to  carry 
on  as  a  Government  and  to  carry  out  the  pact  signed 
at  London.  When  Walther  Rathenau,  President  of 
one  of  their  greatest  commercial  undertakings,  ac- 
cepted from  the  outside  a  newly  created  cabinet 
post,  it  marked  a  significant  step  forward  in  the 
development  of  the  new  German  Republic. 

In  a  few  countries,  notably  Italy  and  Norway, 
we  will  notice  that  all  the  political  power  of  the 
country  is  not  to  be  found  inside  of  the  cabinet,  for 
Giolitti  in  the  former  and  Knudsen  in  the  latter 
have  had  much  to  say  from  the  side-lines  since  re- 
signing the  premiership  voluntarily  and  not  upon 
adverse  parliamentary  votes.  Several  European 
[xvi] 


INTRODUCTION 

statesmen  have  been  Prime  Minister  several  times, 
notably  Briand,  Mam-a  the  Spaniard  and  Giolitti. 
The  ups  and  downs  in  political  life  are  well  por- 
trayed in  a  story  about  Giolitti,  who  has  several 
times  been  Prime  Minister  of  Italy.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  a  certain  Sicilian  shipping  company 
begged  the  honour  of  naming  for  him  a  ship  then 
being  built.  He  consented.  Soon  after  that  the 
political  swing  turned  against  him  because  of  his 
friendliness  for  Germany  and  Austria,  so  he  re- 
signed ofBce.  At  the  time  that  the  vessel  was  fin- 
ished, Italy  had  declared  war  on  Austria.  The 
stockholders  of  the  company  made  such  a  protest 
against  their  new  ship  being  christened  Giovanni 
Giolitti  that  the  directors  had  to  yield,  so  she  glided 
into  the  water  as  the  Citta-di-Trieste.  Not  long 
after  Giolitti  regained  his  popularity,  again  became 
Prime  Minister,  and  the  shipping  directors  cursed 
the  fickleness  of  public  opinion  in  general  and  of 
stockholders  in  particular. 

To  an  American,  accustomed  to  the  balance 
which  our  constitution  sets  up  between  the  Execu- 
tive, Legislative  and  Judicial  branches  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, the  most  interesting  result  of  our  Euro- 
pean investigations  will  be  to  learn  that  over  there 

[xvii] 


INTRODUCTION 

the  legislative  branch  largely,  if  not  entirely,  usurps 
the  prerogatives  of  the  executive. 

Autocratic  monarchy  fell  with  the  Czar  of  Rus- 
sia. In  most  kingdoms  the  King  interferes  not 
at  all  in  Government.  To  this  rule  there  are  inter- 
mittent exceptions,  some  of  them  useful  ones.  For 
example,  the  Danish  King,  believing  that  the  ex- 
tremely radical  cabinet  in  office  after  the  close  of 
the  war  did  not  correctly  represent  current  public 
opinion,  arbitrarily  called  for  new  elections.  His 
opinion  was  endorsed  at  the  polls  by  the  return  of  a 
Parliament  which  selected  a  moderate  radical  as 
Prime  Minister.  So  limited  are  the  powers  of  the 
French  President,  so  carefully  has  that  Republic 
guarded  against  another  coup  d'etat  such  as  made 
Louis  Napoleon  Emperor,  that  there  is  ample  jus- 
tification for  that  brilliant  Parisian  journalist 
Stephane  Lauzanne,  naming  his  article  on  the 
President  "The  Prisoner  of  the  Elysees"  (as  his 
official  residence  is  called).  Lhnited  also  are  the 
powers  of  the  Presidents  of  both  Austria  and 
Czecho-Slovakia.  Even  in  Bulgaria,  not  exactly 
the  quietest  part  of  the  turbulent  Balkans,  there  is 
a  distinct  limit  to  the  kingly  power  when  it  opposes 
constitutional  government, 
[xviii] 


INTRODUCTION 

When  King  Ferdinand  and  his  Minister  Rado- 
slavof  decided  that  their  country  should  enter  the 
war  on  the  side  of  Germany  and  Austria,  they 
called  a  Council  at  Sofia,  which  was  to  be  a  mere 
formality,  since  everybody,  no  matter  what  his  poli- 
tics, knew  that  the  question  was  already  settled. 
All  those  present  approved  the  King's  decision  ex- 
cept Stambuliski,  head  of  the  Agrarian  party,  who 
protested  stoutly.  "If  Your  Majesty  persists  in 
this  decision,  he  had  best  look  out  for  his  head!" 
"My  head,"  retorted  the  angry  Monarch,  "although 
an  old  one,  is  solid  enough  on  my  shoulders.  Yours 
is  a  young  head,  and  it  wouldn't  take  much  to  make 
it  come  off!"  "Bah,"  coolly  remarked  Stambu- 
liski, "that  would  cost  Your  Majesty  too  dearly." 
That  very  evening  Stambuliski  was  thrown  into 
prison,  and  later  condemned  to  death.  But  he  was 
right,  Ferdinand  was  afraid  to  put  the  sentence  into 
execution,  for  Stambuliski's  popularity  was  so  great 
that  his  decapitation  would  have  proved  too  expen- 
sive a  luxury. 

While  the  power  of  the  British  King  for  service 
to  the  Empire  is  greater  than  most  Americans 
imagine,  even  he  is  most  careful  never  to  interfere 
with  the  actual  government  entrusted  to  Parliament 

[xix] 


INTRODUCTION 

by  the  unwritten  constitution  of  those  sometimes 
unfamiliar  cousins  of  ours. 

We  have  seen  the  time  in  Washington  when,  dur- 
ing the  period  of  interpretation  of  the  Constitution, 
oui*  Supreme  Court  was  most  potent,  and  we  have 
also  witnessed  the  undue  predominance  of  the  ex- 
ecutive in  the  person  of  President  Wilson,  first  at- 
tacked and  then  curbed  by  the  legislative  led  by 
our  Senate.  But  never  have  we  witnessed  the  leg- 
islative select  the  actual  governor  of  the  State  as 
European  Parliaments  constantly  select  Prime 
Ministers.  This  difference  between  our  system  and 
theirs  will  be  best  studied  when  we  are  visiting 
France,  and  it  will  prove  an  instructive  comparison. 

The  European  system  of  basing  government  con- 
trol upon  control  in  Parliament  makes  the  Prime 
Minister  more  immediately  representative  than  is 
our  chief  executive.  With  us  a  President  cannot 
be  ousted  until  his  term  of  four  years  expires,  un- 
less, of  course,  he  subjects  himself  to  impeachment, 
— something  which  was  never  attempted  but  once 
and  then  did  not  succeed. 

In  Europe  his  prototype's  tenure  of  office  is  only 
from  day  to  day — the  moment  the  Opposition  mus- 
ters sufficient  strength  to  defeat  him  in  a  vote  of 

[XX] 


INTRODUCTION 

confidence,  off  come  the  robes  of  office !  This  very- 
fact  renders  the  Prime  Ministers  of  Europe  pe- 
culiarly representative  of  current  public  opinion, 
and  therefore  from  the  study  of  their  personalities 
and  those  of  their  associates,  the  Ministers  for  For- 
eign Affairs,  may  we  be  sure  of  putting  ourselves 
into  direct  communication  with  up-to-date  political 
thought  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

All  of  these  officials  with  whom  I  talked  knew 
that  I  had  not  the  slightest  shadow  of  official  stand- 
ing. I  represented  nobody  officially  or  unofficially. 
They  rightly  took  me  for  a  plain,  average  Amer- 
ican. They  believe  in  the  United  States  and  in  the 
average  American,  and  to  me  as  such  they  talked 
freely.  Collectively  they  left  upon  me  four  chief 
impressions,  of  which  the  first  two  are  that  they 
thought  we  would  soon  have  war  with  Japan 
(which  Europe  would  observe  with  resignation!) 
and  that  all  the  leading  statesmen  of  Europe  but 
two  are  surprisingly  typical  of  their  nations,  incar- 
nating as  it  were  domestic  public  opinion.  The  two 
exceptions  are  Lloyd  George  and  Briand,  both  po- 
litical supermen ;  Briand  is  a  super-Frenchman,  but 
Lloyd  George  is  not  a  super-Englishman — he  is  as 
anti-typical  as  Disraeli,  which  perhaps  explains  why 

[xxi] 


INTRODUCTION 

they  two  gained  such  an  hold  on  the  English  peo- 
ple. The  two  other  collective  impressions  gath- 
ered during  my  trip  were  first,  that  all  of  Europe 
west  of  a  line  so  drawn  as  to  leave  to  the  westward 
Great  Britain,  France,  Spain,  and  Portugal  has  no 
effect  direct  or  indirect  upon  the  vote  in  America, 
while  the  countries  to  the  east  of  it  from  the  North 
Cape  to  the  tip  of  Italy  strongly  affect  our  vote. 
Second,  that  every  European  politician,  be  he  wise 
or  foolish,  firmly  believes  that  all  his  country's  woes, 
economic  or  otherwise,  would  be  cured  by  giving  it 
a  piece  of  neighbouring  territory.  Just  as  if  we 
thought  that  unemployment  in  New  York  could  be 
remedied  by  giving  us  a  corner  of  Connecticut  or  a 
slice  of  Pennsylvania !  How  these  conclusions  were 
reached  will  later  appear. 

Charles  H.  Sherrill. 

20  East  65th  Street, 
New  York  City. 


[xxii] 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTEB 

I  THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE    .... 

II  PRESENT    DAY    OFFICIAL    FRANCE 

III  MAKERS    OF    THE    GERMAN   REPUBLIC     . 

IV  THE    LOW    COUNTRIES    AND   THEIR    COLONIES 
V  SCANDINAVIAN    PROBLEMS 

VI  THE    PETITE    ENTENTE THE    NORTHERN    DAM   . 

VII  THE   PETITE    ENTENTE THE    SOUTHERN    DAM      . 

VIII  A     HOUSE    DIVIDED HUNGARY       .... 

IX  A    HOUSE    DIVIDED AUSTRIA  .... 

X  VENIZELOS,    THE    WANING    TURK    AND    THE    CHANGED 

MEDITERRANEAN 

XI  FAR-EASTERN    POSTSCRIPT 


FAOB 

ix 

29 

57 
85 
117 
137 
181 
20.5 
235 
257 

277 
299 


PORTRAITS 

DAVID  LLOYD  GEORGE Frotitisptece 

The  British  Prime  Minister 

PAGE 
ARISTIDE    BRIAND 59 

The  French  Prime  Minister 

JOSEF    WIRTH 87 

The  German  Prime  Minister 

JONKHEER  H.   A.   VAN   KARNEBEEK IIP 

The  Dutch  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 

HJALMAR    BRANTING 1S9 

The  Swedish  Prime  Minister 

DR.    EDUARD    BENES 183 

The  Czecho-Slovakian  Prime  Minister 

TAKE    JONESCU 207 

The  Roumanian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 

ADMIRAL    HORTHY 237 

Governor  and  Regent  of  Hungary 

CHANCELLOR    SCHOBER 259 

The  Austrian  Prime  Minister 

E.    K.    VENIZELOS 279 

Former  Prime  Minister  of  Greece 

COUNT    CHINDA 301 

Adviser  to  the  Prince  Regent  of  Japan 


[xxv] 


CHAPTER  I:  THE  POST-WAR 
BRITISH  EMPIRE 


PRIME   MINISTERS  AND 
PRESIDENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   POST-WAR  BRITISH   EMPIRE 

IS  Lloyd  George  a  seer,  a  prophet,  a  deliverer,  a 
super-statesman,  or  a  mountebank,  a  gymnast, 
a  trickster?  He  has  been  called  all  of  these  and 
better  and  worse,  but  no  one  has  yet  been  able  to 
discern  the  naked  truth  about  him.  The  world  is 
now  watching  Great  Britain  with  him  as  engineer 
running  on  the  tracks  of  the  Great  Democratic  Rail- 
road. The  world  wonders  as  it  sees  the  myriad  pas- 
sengers get  aboard  lovmg,  fearing  or  distrusting 
him; — quite  a  number  of  them  doubt  if  they  will 
ever  arrive  sound  of  life  and  limb  at  their  jour- 
ney's end! 

But  the  English  get  aboard.  They  follow  their 
engineer  for  two  principal  reasons.  One  is  that  as 
a  nation  of  gamblers  they  like  to  take  a  chance  on 

[29] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

a  horse  race,  a  ring  battle,  a  match  at  Lord's,  any- 
thing. And  they  trust  and  follow  whomsoever 
they  think  is  a  winner, — Lloyd  George  is  a  winner ! 

The  other  reason  for  their  docility  is  that  they 
do  not  understand  him,  he  is  the  "whirling  dervish" 
of  politics  who  diverts  and  hypnotises.  Like  chil- 
dren, too  abashed  to  demand  a  reason  from  their 
schoolmaster,  the  "people" — and  they  compose 
Lloyd  George's  background — simply  accept  his  dic- 
tum, that  is,  his  definition  of  the  meaning  and  men- 
ace of  the  new  problems  of  Europe. 

I  would  like  to  bring  Lloyd  George  within  the 
scope  of  normal  vision.  But  I  should  fail,  as  oth- 
ers have  failed  before  me  if  I  sought  only  the  "naked 
truth."  For  there  is  no  naked  truth.  Try  to  sepa- 
rate a  conception  of  that  mystery,  a  man,  from  the 
details  of  himself,  including  the  perfect  and  imper- 
fect things  in  his  character,  and  nothing  remains. 
What  admirers  call  the  gold  in  him,  and  what  the 
detractors  call  the  base  metal  are  not  the  person; 
the  alloy  may  well  be  the  man  himself. 

At  10 :30  on  the  morning  of  June  29, 1921,  Lloyd 

George  received  me  on  the  narrow  terrace  of  the 

famous  dingy  little  house,  10  Downing  street,  heart 

of  the  vast  British  Empire.     It  was  not  an  aus- 

[30] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

picious  moment  for  this  meeting  I  had  sought,  be- 
cause the  Premiers  of  the  various  dominions  were 
already  assembled  within  the  house  and  were  impa- 
tiently waiting  for  the  chief.  Under  such  condi- 
tions it  seemed  that  the  best  I  could  hope  for  would 
be  a  most  abbreviated  interview,  but  it  turned  out 
more  happily. 

Fortunately  Lloyd  George  dearly  loves  a  chat, 
and  the  way  Philip  Kerr,  the  brilliant,  intellectual 
nephew  of  Lord  Lothian,  and  until  recently  the 
Premier's  political  secretary,  had  spoken  of  me,  had 
possibly  piqued  the  Welshman's  curiosity.  Ignor- 
ing the  Premiers  who  from  time  to  time  appeared 
at  the  windows  Lloyd  George  received  me  as  if  his 
time  were  unreservedly  mine. 

"You  are  making  a  collection  of  Prime  Minis- 
ters?" asked  he,  "a  queer  notion.  And  how  did 
you  get  the  idea?" 

My  answer  the  reader  may  compile  for  himself 
from  the  pages  of  this  book;  it  satisfied  Lloyd 
George,  who  seemed  not  unwilling  that  I  should  put 
him  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

Neatly  dressed,  his  short,  well-filled  figure  with 
the  famous  crooked  legs  that  are  the  joy  of  the 
caricaturists  soon  passed  out  of  my  vision  and  I 

[31] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

saw  the  noble  head  with  its  thatch  of  too  long  hair, 
the  large  eyes  that  might  be  blue  or  brown,  that 
are,  in  fact,  blue  in  merriment  and  brown  in  deeper 
emotion.  I  should  have  lost  sight,  I  say,  of  his 
diminutive  stature  had  it  not  been  for  a  manner- 
ism, meant  to  hide  it,  that  instead,  constantly  em- 
phasises it.  With  his  eye-glass  occasionally  thrust 
at  me  to  make  a  verbal  point  he  would  step  first 
towards  me  and  then  leaning  far  back  he  would 
step  away  and  then  back  again,  now  advancing  one 
shoulder  and  now  the  other — the  in-and-out  action 
of  a  trained  boxer.  The  mannerism  is  that  almost 
always  the  head  leans  away  from  you,  just  as  Colo- 
nel Roosevelt's  was  wont  to  do,  to  lend  an  impres- 
sion of  greater  height,  but  Lloyd  George's  head 
inclines  generally  to  one  side  or  the  other,  which 
Roosevelt's  did  not.  Roosevelt  made  his  points  by 
suddenly  leaning  towards  his  man  and  baring  his 
teeth,  but  the  Welshman  makes  his  by  leaning  back 
and  screwing  up  his  eyes  the  better  to  observe  how 
you  take  him. 

Always  there  gleamed  from  between  these  nar- 
rowed lids  a  something,  what  was  it?  certainly  not 
frankness.     There  ensued  a  pause  as  if  he  waited 
to  see  if  he  had  made  an  impression,  and  if  he  had 
[32] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

failed,  instantly  he  chose  another  way  to  do  so. 
Then,  having  succeeded,  open  wide  flew  the  eyes 
and  the  franker  expression  returned. 

His  physical  action  in  no  way  denotes  that  he  is  a 
golfer  and  yet  it  is  a  great  passion  with  him.  Amer- 
ica is  not  the  only  country  where  it  is  politically 
wise  to  be  a  golf  playmate  of  the  Executive !  One 
of  Lloyd  George's  most  intimate  friends  (the  owner 
and  editor  of  The  News  of  the  World,  a  weekly 
with  3,000,000  circulation)  was  raised  by  him  to 
the  peerage  as  Lord  Riddell  of  Walton  Heath,  for 
it  was  at  the  golf  course  of  that  name  that  they 
golfed  together,  and  thither  L.  G.  (as  he  is  fre- 
quently called)  repairs  for  his  favourite  sport 
whenever  cares  of  office  permit.  His  political  wit 
is  as  alert  as  his  bearing.  It  was  reported  to  Lloyd 
George  that  in  a  public  speech  Sylvia  Pankhurst 
had  declared  that  if  he  were  her  husband  she  would 
give  him  poison.  "If  she  were  my  wife,"  retorted 
he,  "I  would  gladly  take  the  poison." 

Lloyd  George  on  this  fair  June  morning  felt 
elated  at  having  settled  the  coal  strike.  He  intro- 
duced the  topic  and  later  that  of  the  Irish  ques- 
tion, thus  treating  me  as  he  frequently  treats  par- 
liament, to  an  appearance,  at  least,  of  utter  open- 

[33] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ness.  His  joy  in  his  success  was  very  pleasant  to 
see,  nor  did  he  conceal  his  pride. 

How  he  settled  this  momentous  strike  and 
thereby  crossed  another  crisis  he  explained  saying 
that  it  was  by  making  himself  a  partisan  of  one 
side  and  the  other  successively  in  order  to  get  the 
heart  of  the  matter  out  of  either.  In  no  other  way, 
he  said,  could  a  decision  be  reached  that  would  even 
temporarily  heal  their  differences. 

"All  things  to  all  men."  While  listening,  with 
every  sense,  as  I  thought,  to  his  talk,  at  the  same 
time,  as  if  magically,  the  salient  events  in  his  career 
ran  through  my  head — his  yeoman  service  for  the 
Liberal  Party,  paid  for  by  a  delayed  salaried  posi- 
tion, the  Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  his  re- 
form of  the  Budget  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
his  break  with  the  Liberal  Party  over  the  liberal- 
isation of  the  British  Constitution,  his  getting 
guns  and  munitions  with  a  bludgeon  when  Minis- 
ter of  Munitions,  his  call  to  "Big  Business"  to  fill 
the  breach  in  the  war,  finally  his  ringing  clarion, 
"The  Empire  is  now  running  Downing  Street  and 
not  Downing  Street  the  Empire."  I  say  that  while 
attending  to  Lloyd  George's  fluent  and  engaging 
chat  these  things  passed  through  my  mind,  called 
[34] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

up,  I  verily  believe,  by  his  necromancy.  I  was 
falling  under  the  spell  of  a  magician. 

His  owrt  voice  broke  the  spell. 

"Have  you  read  the  speech  of  your  Ambassa- 
dor?" (He  referred  to  Colonel  Harvey's  maiden 
speech  in  England  which  every  one  remembers.) 

"Has  it  hurt  him  with  your  people?" 

To  hurt  and  to  help  politically, — are  these  the 
Prime  Minister's  guiding  infinitives?  Is  this  the 
way  in  which  he  constructs  his  table  of  values? 

Lloyd  George  has  not  forgotten  his  law  studies 
in  a  garret  in  Lincoln's  Inn  for  he  is  a  trained  cross- 
examiner.  When  he  learned  that  I  had  recently 
been  in  Berlin  he  asked:  "Had  I  met  Rathenau? 
What  was  Germany's  opinion  of  that  statesman? 
Did  he  know  that  England's  purpose  was  to  help 
Germany?" 

Next  came  this  question:  "Did  I  believe  that 
Wirth,  the  new  German  Prime  Minister,  would 
last?"  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "longer  than  the  people 
who  used  him  as  a  stop  gap  had  thought  possible." 
I  write  seven  months  after  the  event  and  Wirth  is 
still  in  power. 

Beneath  the  ease  and  casual  nature  of  his  man- 
ner Lloyd  George  exhibited  in  this  talk,  so  unim- 

[35] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

portant  to  him,  a  refreshing  desire  to  make  a  fa- 
vom'able  impression,  to  be  liked.  This,  I  feel  sm*e, 
is  with  him  a  general  consideration.  To  the  indi- 
vidual as  to  the  mass  his  manner  is  not  combative 
but  conciliatory.  He  wears  his  armour  nowhere 
save  on  the  battle  field.  His  wish  to  be  understood 
is  not  keen,  for  to  that  I  think  he  is  indifferent,  but 
the  elemental  emotion,  purely  Celtic,  always  func- 
tions at  other  times.  It  is  a  necessity  of  his  na- 
ture to  make  his  charm  felt. 

It  is  a  very  real  charm,  a  mixture  of  the  orator — 
and  he  is  a  wonderful  orator — and  the  actor.  As 
the  latter  he  is  unsurpassed.  He  gets  under  the 
skin  of  every  character  he  assumes.  It  is  not  by 
change  of  costume  merely  that  he  parades  now  as 
Cromwell  and  now  as  Richard  III,  but  by  facial 
changes,  by  bodily  differences,  by,  it  may  almost  be 
said,  a  transformation  of  the  very  texture  of  his 
brain.  If  an  auditor  should  exclaim  that  there  is 
an  attempt  to  deceive  him,  let  him  not  forget  that 
the  political  actor  is  at  the  same  time  deceiving  him- 
self, so  heartily  has  he  entered  into  the  part. 

How  mistaken  it  is  to  call  this  man  a  political 
gymnast!  How  meaningless  are  the  words,  often 
applied  in  derogation  of  this  player,  that  he  delib- 
[36] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

erately  deserts  his  principles!  The  truth  is  nearer 
arrived  at  by  saying  that  he  changes  his  roles  and 
with  each  one  assumes  its  principles.  They  are  not 
necessarily  his  but  they  do  belong  to  and  fit  the 
character. 

"Shall  you  see  Giolitti?"  he  inquired  as,  moved 
by  the  frequent  return  of  the  Premiers  to  the  win- 
dows, I  began  to  take  my  leave.  "Shall  you  see 
Giolitti?     I  advise  you  to  see  Giolitti." 

"But  Giolitti  is  no  longer  in  office,  since  he  has 
just  resigned." 

"He  is  old,  he  has  worked  hard,  he  is  only  taking 
a  vacation ;  he  can  come  back  whenever  he  is  ready. 
See  Giolitti,  he's  the  best  of  us  all." 

•  ••«.*« 

I  have  said  that  Lloyd  George  disdains  prophecy, 
and  rarely  indulges  in  a  forecast  of  the  future. 
Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,  and  to-day 
is  his.  But  this  does  not  deprive  him  of  the  power 
of  foreseeing  what  to-morrow  will  be  like.  He  pos- 
sesses this  faculty,  a  kind  of  second  sight,  which 
gilds  as  it  sustains  his  power. 

During  the  Boer  war  Lloyd  George  loudly  fa- 
voured a  generous  policy  towards  those  doughty 
foes,  declaiming  that  it  afforded  the  only  basis  for 

[37] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

amicable  relations  after  victory.  Indeed  it  is  said 
that  he  had  to  escape  disguised  as  a  policeman  from 
an  angered  public  meeting  in  Manchester. 

From  this  advanced  pro-Boer  attitude  he  reaped 
substantial  reward.  By  the  friendship  thus  formed 
with  General  Smuts,  now  Prime  Minister  of  the 
Union  of  South  Africa,  Lloyd  George  was  enabled 
to  use  the  Boer  chief  as  an  intermediary  between 
the  Government  and  the  Dail  Eireann. 

It  is  a  secret  de  Polichinelle  that  when  the  gov- 
ernmental chiefs  of  the  several  dominions  assembled 
in  London  in  June,  1921,  one  of  whose  meetings  I 
had  just  delayed,  among  their  strongest  recom- 
mendations was  the  adjustment  of  the  Irish  prob- 
lem on  the  easiest  terms.  General  Smuts  and  Mr. 
Meighen,  the  Canadian  Premier,  especially  urged, 
first  truce  and  then  conciliation. 

Both  fell  well  within  Lloyd  George's  policy  and 
to  Smuts  he  entrusted  the  olive  branch.  General 
Smuts'  visit  to  Dublin  was  quickly  followed  by 
personal  conferences  in  London  with  De  Valera 
and  other  representatives  of  the  Dail,  conferences 
which  the  British  Prime  Minister  had  himself  been 
unable  to  arrange. 

Lloyd  George  did  not  waste  the  political  bread 
[38] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

he  cast  upon  (or  across)  the  waters  during  the  Boer 
war,  he  seldom  wastes  anything, — and  thanks  to  him 
the  British  Empire  seems  now  to  be  near  to  heahng 
a  cancer  centm'ies  old. 

A  consideration  of  the  personalities  of  these 
Premiers  who  met  with  Lloyd  George  in  late  June 
and  early  July  of  1921  should  carry  along  with  it, 
by  relating  how  they  confronted  great  national 
problems,  an  approximate  understanding  of  how 
the  post-war  British  Empire  means  to  carry  on. 

The  Empire,  "muddling  through,"  has  func- 
tioned well  in  the  past  and  it  has  recently  safely 
weathered  its  direst  crisis,  but  the  new  conditions 
demand  new  methods. 

In  the  case  of  Jan  Smuts  few  statesmen's  photo- 
graphs depict  the  man  so  fairly  as  that  of  the  stocky 
Boer,  a  leader  like  our  own  Washington,  resource- 
ful both  in  war  and  peace.  Born  in  1870  in  South 
Africa,  he  completed  his  education  begun  there  by 
taking  a  Double  First  Law  Tripos  at  Christ's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.  Knowing  the  English  well,  both 
as  one  who  lived  among  them  during  impression- 
able student  days  and  later  as  their  foe  in  battle, 
he  pays  them  the  great  compliment  of  trusting  to 
their  genius  as  an  equitable  Colonial  power.     As  a 

[39] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

lover  of  his  South  Africa,  he  realises  that  interde- 
pendence with  so  strong  an  entity  as  the  British 
Empire  is  better  for  the  fortune  of  a  country  need- 
ing unlimited  capital  than  an  unaided  independence. 
In  1906,  he  wi'ote  "our  strength  lies  not  in  isolation 
but  in  union."  He  has  learned  and  typifies  what 
it  would  be  well  for  certain  Philippine  separatists, 
yearning  to  be  lambs  sent  out  alone  into  the  for- 
est, carefully  to  ponder.  Those  who  have  sat  with 
him  in  council,  friends  and  foes  alike,  testify  that  he 
is  apt  to  wait  until  the  views  of  all  the  others  have 
been  advanced,  and  the  problem  fully  presented,  be- 
fore offering  his  own  suggestions  thereon — which 
suggestions  are  generally  so  simple  and  effective  as 
greatly  to  clarify  the  issue  if  not  to  entirely  meet 
it.  In  this  regard  he  is  much  like  our  own  Sen- 
ator Root. 

Two  men  could  hardly  be  more  unlike  than 
Premiers  Meighen  of  the  vast  Canadian  provinces 
and  Massey  of  New  Zealand,  smallest  of  the  Do- 
minions in  population  and  the  only  one  with  re- 
stricted geographical  limitations.  Thin,  wiry,  ac- 
tive is  the  former,  while  Massey  is  burly — a  real 
farmer. 

Massey  has  been  in  power  a  far  longer  period 
[40] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

than  most  Prime  Ministers  enjoy,  over  ten  years, 
and  has  had  a  peculiarly  well-rounded  experience, 
serving  as  Minister  of  Lands  and  Labour,  Agricul- 
ture, Industries,  and  Commerce.  Born  in  Ireland 
in  1856,  he  went  out  to  New  Zealand  in  1870  to 
join  his  parents  who  had  emigrated  a  few  years 
earlier  with  non-Conformist  settlers. 

Gaunt  and  slender  is  Premier  Hughes  of  Aus- 
tralia, as  hard  of  hearing  as  his  opinions  are  hard 
to  change. 

However  they  may  differ  as  men,  as  statesmen 
all  are  of  one  type — ministers  responsible  only  to 
representative  assemblies  of  their  own  people.  This 
is  what  the  British  Prime  Minister  used  to  be  be- 
fore the  war,  when  he  had  only  the  majority  in  his 
London  parliament  to  consider.  It  is  not  so  with 
Lloyd  George  to-day.  His  responsibility  has 
broadened  to  include  a  stewardship  over  the  far- 
flung  Empire,  the  late  international  war  has  de- 
veloped his  high  office  into  a  sort  of  Presidency  of 
Greater  Britain. 

Of  the  visiting  Colonial  premiers  none  made  so 
favourable  an  impression  in  "Our  Old  Home"  as 
Mr.  Meighen,  which  may  or  may  not  have  been  due 
to  the  reason  he  modestly  assigned,  that  officialdom 

[41] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  the  man  in  the  street  "had  seen  the  other  fel- 
lows before,"  and  he  was  a  novelty.  Though  a  turn 
of  the  political  wheel  has  lately  lost  him  the 
Premiership,  there  will  long  be  remembered  his 
yeoman  service  to  his  Dominion  during  the  London 
conference. 

Born  in  Anderson,  Ontario,  in  1874,  and  gradu- 
ated with  honours  in  mathematics  from  Toronto 
University  in  1896,  Meighen  farmed,  taught  school, 
etc.,  for  four  years,  when  he  turned  to  the  law.  In 
1908,  then  34  years  old,  he  entered  Parliament  and 
proceeding  upward  through  one  poHtical  office  after 
another,  but  always  as  a  friend  of  Sir  Robert  Bor- 
den, became  in  1920  Canadian  Prime  Minister  and 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs.  His  face  is 
thoughtful,  and  this  appearance  reflects  itself  in 
the  happy  selection  of  words  for  which  his  speeches 
are  widely  known.  He  asked  straightforward,  sig- 
nificant questions  about  American  public  opinion 
upon  different  points — how  did  they  feel  on  the 
Irish  question?  etc.  He  showed  that  he  knew  far 
more  than  did  the  English  of  our  general  desire 
that  some  decent  settlement  be  made  of  the  Irish 
controversy.  Indeed,  the  Canadian  Premier  com- 
mented later  upon  this  very  fact  while  giving  hearty 
[42] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

endorsement  to  Lloyd  George's  earnest  desire  to 
be  informed  upon  American  public  opinion — "tbey 
have  the  best  of  intentions  toward  America,"  said 
he,  "but  London  does  not  understand  America's 
point  of  view." 

Just  as  Meighen  with  Smuts  led  the  demand  for 
an  Irish  settlement,  so  Meighen  and  Hughes  are  be- 
lieved to  have  led  that  against  the  renewing  of  the 
Anglo -Japanese  Alliance  in  any  shape  that  might 
offend  America.  It  is  generally  understood,  how- 
ever, that  Meighen  went  much  further  than 
Hughes,  and  favoured  dropping  that  alliance  alto- 
gether. In  this  second  matter,  of  course.  General 
Smuts  and  his  people  are  too  far  distant  from  the 
Pacific  Ocean  to  feel  the  effect  of  Japanese  eco- 
nomic penetration  and  cannot  be  expected  to  real- 
ise why  Australia  is  perforce  unanimous  for  the 
"White  Australia"  policy.  Although  Meighen  is 
uncommunicative  to  a  foreigner  upon  his  official 
views  regarding  this  purely  Pacific  question,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  ask  if  Americans  did  not  think  that 
America  would  have  joined  the  Allies  earlier  in 
the  Great  War  if  there  had  been  no  Anglo- Japanese 
Alliance. 

Hughes,  not  only  a  lav^^er  at  home  but  also  a 

[43] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

member  of  Gray's  Imi,  London,  made  a  world-wide 
name  for  himself  at  the  Versailles  Peace  Confer- 
ence. He  knew  exactly  what  Australia  had  to  have 
and  also  just  what  she  meant  to  have  omitted  from 
the  Conference's  decisions,  and  in  both  these  regards 
he  made  himself  not  only  heard,  but  in  the  end, 
listened  to. 

One  day  at  the  Paris  Peace  Conference  Premier 
Hughes  got  into  an  argument  with  President  Wil- 
son about  the  mandate  over  New  Guinea.  The 
President  had  his  doubts  concerning  the  good  faith 
of  Australian  imperiahsm.  "Would  Australia 
agree  to  forbid  the  sale  of  arms  to  the  natives?" 
"Yes,"  replied  the  suspected  Australian.  "And 
also  the  sale  of  alcohol?"  "Yes,  because  alcohol  is 
not  good  for  cannibals,"  said  Hughes.  "And 
would  agree  not  to  erect  fortifications?"  "Why,  of 
course — what  good  are  fortifications  to  cannibals?" 
was  the  reply.  "And  you  would  freely  admit  all 
missionaries?'*  "With  pleasure,"  said  Premier 
Hughes.  "Our  reports  show  that  those  particular 
cannibals  haven't  been  getting  half  enough  to  eat!" 

If  being  born  on  the  soil  makes  a  difference,  Mr. 
Hughes  is  even  more  Welsh  than  Lloyd  George; 
he  was  born  in  Wales  in  1864  and  at  20  went  out 
[44] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

to  Australia.  Since  1915  he  has  been  its  Prime 
Minister.  Many  years  of  service  in  Parliament 
prepared  him  for  that  leadership,  and  for  his  recent 
successful  representation  of  his  country  in  Paris. 

All  these  Dominion  Premiers  have  been  honoured 
not  only  by  the  English  government  and  municipal 
bodies  but  also  by  honourary  degrees  from  uni- 
versities, of  which  Hughes  has  received  five.  Some- 
times these  distinctions  prove  hurtful  at  home  by 
exciting  local  jealousies;  all  politicians  are  not  so 
quick  as  was  Sir  George  Reid,  former  Australian 
Prime  Minister,  who  upon  returning  home  after 
being  made  a  K.C.M.G.  (Knight  Commander  of 
St.  Michael  and  St.  George)  replied  when  asked 
its  meaning  by  an  Opposition  newspaper  reporter, 
*Tt  only  means — keep  calling  me  George." 

We  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  Prime  Ministers 
as  heads  of  representative  governments  but  per- 
haps without  realising  how  representative  of  their 
average  constituents  those  dignitaries  must  per- 
force be.  If  these  individuals  were  not  of  a  type 
approved  each  by  his  own  people  they  would  not 
be  where  they  are !  For  that  reason  we  may  safely 
say  that  a  sight  of  their  portraits  and  even  so  fleet- 
ing a  glimpse  as  this  of  the  personalities  represent- 
ees]. 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ing  the  different  British  Dominions  can  usefully 
enlighten  us  upon  that  important  international 
question  "Whither  is  the  British  Empire  tend- 
ing?" 

In  Paris  one  meets  many  people — some  of  them 
high  up,  who  maintain  that  such  an  imperial  con- 
ference as  that  of  London  can  only  mean  the  part- 
ing of  the  ways — that  the  Dominions  are  about  to 
split  off  as  did  the  Americans  in  1776.  Such  peo- 
ple forget  that  the  rulers  of  Great  Britain  to-day 
are  not  so  narrow-minded  as  were  Lord  North  and 
George  III.  No,  it  is  not  at  a  parting  of  the  ways 
that  these  Premiers  met  under  the  Presidency  of 
the  British  Prime  Minister.  The  crossroads  was 
passed  when  the  Colonials  rallied  in  men  and  money 
to  the  British  front  in  Flanders  and  elsewhere. 
They  are  now  well  beyond,  proceeding  along  a 
straight  highway  side  by  side.  But  at  those  cross- 
roads, now  passed,  those  very  Colonials,  by  their 
gallant  and  brotherly  conduct,  ceased  to  be  Colo- 
nials and  became  as  full  brothers  in  government  as 
they  had  been  in  arms; — they  shed  their  colonial 
citizenship  to  become  partners  in  Empire.  It  was 
significant  how  their  Premiers  flared  up  when  a 
certain  London  newspaper  suggested  that  Winston 
[46] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

Churchill,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies, 
should  preside  at  their  conference  I  Those  leaders, 
only  Colonial  Ministers  before  the  War,  have  since 
then  become  real  Prime  Ministers.  They  demand 
recognition  as  such  and  the  facts  of  the  case  call 
loudly  to  be  heard  on  their  behalf.  Nor  is  the 
change  come  only  to  them.  For  he  who  before 
1914  was  Prime  Minister  of  the  British  Empire, 
responsible  only  to  a  Parliament  controlled  by  Lon- 
doners sitting  in  London,  must  now  govern  "by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of"  the  Dominion  part- 
ners, just  as  an  American  President  must  realise 
that  along  with  the  Executive,  our  Constitution 
gives  recognition  to  the  Legislative  and  Judicial 
branches  of  our  government. 

One  may  safely  conclude  that  one  so  alert- 
minded  as  Lloyd  George  appreciates  this  change, 
in  fact  it  is  indicated  by  his  selection  as  private 
secretary  of  that  gallant  Guardsman  Sir  Edward 
Grigg,  especially  well  informed  upon  colonial  af- 
fairs, to  succeed  Philip  Kerr,  specialist  in  foreign 
affairs,  upon  the  latter's  resignation  in  the  spring 
of  1921.  Britain  has  now  time  to  devote  to  im- 
perial adjustments  necessarily  neglected  during  the 

[47] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

life  and  death  war  struggle  that  demanded  inten- 
sive vigilance  in  external  affairs.  In  passing,  do 
not  forget  that  Philip  Kerr  is  one  of  the  ablest  men 
in  Enghsh  pubhc  life.  At  present  he  heads  the  edi- 
torial staff  of  the  Morning  Chronicle,  bought  by 
friends  of  Lloyd  George.  When  Kerr  decides  to 
re-enter  politics,  he  will  go  far — indeed  it  is  the 
opinion  of  tlie  writer  that  he  will  one  day  be  Prime 
Minister. 

If,  as  Lloyd  George's  enemies  allege,  he  is  but 
a  Celtic  opportunist,  there  is  to  be  urged  on  the 
other  hand  England's  good  fortune  in  having  her 
assembled  Premiers  meet  under  the  presidency  of 
one  whose  quick  adaptability  recognises  better  than 
most  Britishers  the  changed  conditions  war  has 
brought  to  the  Empire,  and  how  to  meet  them 
so  that  its  Anglo-Saxon  folk  may  best  carry  for- 
ward their  great  mission  of  helping  to  maintain 
that  world  peace  upon  which  depends  international 
amity  and  commerce. 

Downing  Street  is  about  the  shortest  street  in 

the  world,  but  there  is  none  that  reaches  further! 

It  leads   off   the   broad   thoroughfare   known    as 

Whitehall.    On  the  right  as  you  enter  it  stands  the 

[48] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

modest  official  residence  of  the  Prime  Minister,  and 
on  the  left,  just  opposite,  the  large  Palladian  pile 
of  the  Foreign  Office — that  is  all,  but  what  goes  on 
in  and  goes  forth  from  those  two  edifices  would 
crowd  an  average  avenue  several  miles  long! 

The  Marquis  of  Curzon,  now  head  of  the  For- 
eign Office,  is  a  typical  example  of  the  so-called 
governing  class,  which  has  always  played  so  great 
a  part  in  modern  English  history.  He  is  a  man  of 
unusual  learning  in  foreign  affairs,  having  studied 
them  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  thereby  knows 
his  subject  at  first  hand.  Also  he  is  equipped  with 
a  splendid  physique,  embellished  with  "the  Oxford 
manner"  raised  to  the  nih  power,  to  which  same 
his  enemies  love  to  allude.  When  the  first  Amer- 
ican troops  were  being  reviewed  in  London  by  high 
officials  of  the  British  government,  it  was  noticed 
by  a  certain  English  writer  that  "while  the  King 
frequently  waved  his  hand  to  the  passing  Yankees, 
and  Balfour  his  handkerchief.  Lord  Curzon  main- 
tained a  dignified  posture,  as  though  he  were  re- 
ceiving a  belated  though  adequate  apology  for  the 
Declaration  of  Independence." 

One  day  while  lunching  at  the  French  Foreign 

[49] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Office,  Briand  expressed  great  surprise  at  how  tall 
Lord  Curzon  seemed  when  sitting  down.  "It  is 
really  very  strange,"  said  Bonomi,  the  Italian  Prime 
Minister,  himself  a  large  man,  "he  never  struck  me 
as  being  of  such  very  lofty  stature."  Later  on 
they  learned  that  Lord  Curzon  possessed  a  highly 
prized  leather  portfolio,  in  which  he  carried  his  most 
important  documents.  Nothing  in  the  world  could 
persuade  him  to  let  it  out  of  his  own  possession,  so 
upon  going  in  to  luncheon,  he  put  it  on  his  chair  to 
sit  on,  for  all  the  world  like  the  wool  sack  beneath 
the  Lord  Chancellor  at  Westminster,  which  every- 
body knows  has  the  effect  of  greatly  elevating  any 
one  seated  thereon! 

So  much  for  the  way  in  which  the  business  of 
governing  the  British  Empire  has  been  and  is  now 
being  conducted,  and  now  for  another  factor  with- 
out which  the  picture  is  far  from  complete.  It  is 
the  fashion  for  British  public  speakers  the  world 
over  to  speak  of  the  Crown  as  the  golden  thread 
that  binds  the  Empire  together.  But  is  it  not 
something  both  more  and  less  than  that?  Let  us 
follow  the  trend  of  public  thought  nowadays  and 
apply  the  touchstone  of  metaphysics  to  the  Crown's 
influence.  More  and  more  are  we  coming  to  real- 
[50] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

ise  the  difference  between  things  material  and  those 
purely  spiritual.  While  the  Crown  retains  the  out- 
ward pomp  of  matter  it  has  lost  the  material  power ; 
— that  has  passed  back  to  the  people  and  is  wielded 
by  their  elected  and  selected  representatives.  But 
the  Crown's  hold  on  the  spirit  of  the  people  is  as 
strong  as  ever  it  was,  and  of  late  years  it  has  more 
than  once  demonstrated  its  power  of  service  to  the 
country. 

Particularly  has  the  charming  personality  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  through  his  widely  won 
popularity,  demonstrated  this.  The  combination 
of  his  frank  youth  and  simple  directness  of  man- 
ner has  proved  irresistible.  He  has  won  the  con- 
fidence of  his  people  on  the  home  islands  and  around 
the  seven  seas,  and  his  wellwishers  are  not  all  com- 
patriots. How  will  he  use  this  great  asset? — in 
what  direction  will  the  Crown  develop  ? — time  alone 
will  show.  But,  since  it  is  already  the  fashion  to 
say  that  in  many  respects  he  is  very  like  his  grand- 
father, King  Edward  VII,  it  is  useful  to  consider 
what  sort  of  a  sovereign  the  latter  proved  himself. 
The  time  has  come  to  recognise  that  he  was  one  of 
the  great  Kings  of  English  history.  Long  kept  in 
the  background  by  his  royal  mother,  that  positive 

[51] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

queen,  Victoria,  and  coming  to  the  throne  at  the 
advanced  age  of  sixty,  he  soon  showed  that  he  had 
not  been  wasting  his  years  of  preparation. 
Strachey  in  his  remarkable  life  of  Queen  Victoria 
makes  it  clear  that  Prince  Albert  Edward  was  con- 
sidered somewhat  of  a  trial  to  his  parents,  differing 
so  entirely  from  his  meticulously  industrious  Ger- 
man father;  to  whom,  by  the  way,  America  owes 
the  remoulding  by  Queen  Victoria  of  the  Mason- 
Slidell  message,  which  in  its  original  draft  so 
seriously  threatened  an  Anglo-American  conflict. 

When  the  Prince  of  Wales  came  to  the  throne  in 
January,  1901,  he  found  Anglo-French  relations 
in  a  state  best  indicated  by  saying  that  the  French 
press  carried  as  many  comments  of  "perfide  Al- 
bion" as  did  the  English  comic  columns  upon 
Johnny  Crapaud,  the  landlubber  across  the  chan- 
nel. Realising  far  in  advance  of  his  contempora- 
ries the  control  that  the  Prussian  military  clique  was 
fastening  upon  Germany  and  its  inevitable  result, 
he  set  his  wise  heart  upon  an  Anglo-French  alliance 
as  the  only  practical  defence  against  the  rapidly 
developing  policy  of  Deutschland  iiber  Alles. 
Notwithstanding  the  unpopularity  of  his  plan  (be- 
[52] 


THE  POST-WAR  BRITISH  EMPIRE 

cause  its  need  was  not  understood)  he  brought  to 
pass  the  new  international  alliance,  which  success 
of  his  diplomacy  is,  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
events,  seen  to  be  one  of  the  most  notable  contribu- 
tions by  an  English  king  to  his  people's  welfare. 

Without  that  Anglo-French  alliance,  the  Ger- 
man militarists  must  have  conquered.  All  hail 
Edward  the  Seventh! — and  in  this  acclaim  all  the 
countries  alhed  and  associated  in  the  World  War 
should  heartily  join. 

Lately,  but  a  few  months  since,  George  V  and 
Queen  Mary  went  to  Ireland  and  opened  the 
Ulster  Parliament  against  the  advice  of  wise 
councillors  who  knew  they  risked  their  lives 
thereby.  Indeed,  so  general  was  the  belief  in  the 
danger  they  insisted  upon  running  that  even  the 
Sinn  Fein  Irish  of  the  south  admired  their  courage, 
for  you  can  always  trust  an  Irishman  to  recog- 
nise pluck.  With  such  parents  and  such  a  grand- 
father, the  young  Prince  of  Wales  is  shown  to  be 
after  all  only  carrying  on  the  tradition  of  service 
by  the  Crown  to  the  British  people,  without  which 
its  government  would  not  from  the  standpoint  of 
a  metaphysician  be  complete.     The  new  adjust- 

[53] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

merit  reached  by  the  conference  of  Dominion 
Premiers  under  the  presidency  of  the  British  Prime 
Minister  will  materially  govern  the  Empire,  whilst 
the  Crown,  with  its  hold  upon  the  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple, will  do  its  part  in  holding  them  together. 


[54] 


CHAPTER  II:  PRESENT  DAY 
OFFICIAL  FRANCE 


CHAPTER  II 

PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

AMERICANS  who  have  not  studied  them  at 
home  are  apt  to  hold  false  notions  about  the 
French  people.  Considering  them  an  erratic,  im- 
steady  folk,  they  judge  their  governmental  meth- 
ods by  the  same  standard,  alleging  instability  in 
the  French  system  of  conditioning  government  con- 
trol upon  the  retention  of  a  majority  in  parliament. 
The  fact  is  that  the  conduct  of  the  different  gov- 
ernment departments  in  France  goes  uninterrup- 
tedly forward,  regardless  of  shifting  Ministries,  and 
with  less  change  than  in  Washington,  where  cab- 
inet officers  are  apt  to  alter  the  conduct  of  the  de- 
partments committed  to  their  care.  French  Prime 
Ministers  change  more  frequently  than  do  our 
presidents,  but  in  type  they  differ  less  than  did 
McKinley  from  Roosevelt,  or  Cleveland  from  Wil- 
son. In  order  to  learn  of  French  politics,  let  us 
study  some  of  their  public  men,  not  forgetting  the 
national  limitations  subject  to  which  they  must 
function,   and  certainly  not  overlooking   sundry 

[57] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

leaders  of  the  press,  so  influential  in  their  public 
life. 

Aristide  Briand,  astute  politician  if  France  ever 
produced  one,  is  a  fisherman.  When  cares  of  of- 
fice permit  brief  holidays,  he  spends  them  fishing 
at  a  little  place  he  owns  in  the  department  of  the 
Eure,  near  Paris.  An  enthusiastic  follower  of 
Izaak  Walton's  sport  and  a  Frenchman!  This  com- 
bination means  that  to  the  quick  perceptions  and 
clear  reason  he  shares  in  common  with  fine  speci- 
mens of  the  Latin  race,  is  added  the  infinite  pa- 
tience essential  to  the  wielder  of  the  rod  and  line. 

Observed  from  this  angle  reasons  for  Briand's 
political  success  unfold  themselves. 

One  day  in  June,  1921,  while  lunching  with  him 
at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  his  official  resi- 
dence, he  interrupted  his  amazing  flow  of  anecdote, 
gleaned  during  years  of  public  life,  to  ask  if  I  still 
preferred  to  think  of  him  more  as  a  fisherman  than 
as  a  Prime  Minister.  The  answer  was  easy,  for 
it  was  upon  the  very  next  day  that  Lord  Curzon, 
head  of  the  British  Foreign  Office,  was  arriving  in 
Paris  to  see  Briand  after  several  weeks  of  vainly 
inviting  the  Frenchman  to  come  to  London  ot 
Lympne  or  Folkestone  or  even  Boulogne!    Briand, 

[58] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

with  a  fisherman's  patience,  having  announced  to 
England  France's  pohcy  on  certain  matters,  had 
simply  waited.  Nor  does  this  fisherman  always  sit 
on  the  bank,  for  when  a  month  later,  his  enemies 
sought  to  overthrow  him  in  the  Chambre  des  Depu- 
tes by  attacking  a  high  functionary  of  his,  the  For- 
eign Office,  he  waded  out  into  the  political  rapids, 
vigorously  defended  the  man,  and  offered  to  resign 
if  the  deputies  disapproved  of  such  defence.  And 
all  this  turmoil  was  about  a  telegram  sent  before 
Briand  had  last  become  Minister — some  one  else's 
political  baby  left  on  his  doorstep,  as  it  were. 

There  you  have  the  man,  alert-minded  like  all 
Latins,  logical  as  is  the  average  Frenchman,  quickly 
daring,  but  all  this  against  a  background  of  untir- 
ing patience.  Even  the  French  themselves  do  not 
seem  to  realise  the  significant  change  that  has  come 
over  their  position  as  a  continental  power,  thanks 
to  Briand.  When  he  last  became  Prime  Minister 
they  were  England's  "splendid  second,"  to  borrow 
a  phrase  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  anent  Austria.  Now 
we  see  not  only  Lord  Curzon  coming  to  Paris  in- 
stead of  Briand  going  to  England,  but  also  many 
other  European  leaders,  such  as  Benes,  Take 
Jonescu,  Pashich,  and  last  of  all  the  Greek  Prime 

[61] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Minister  and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  all  ac- 
knowledging by  their  visits  the  prestige  attained  by 
the  French  capital. 

If  Briand  is  an  example  of  the  French  parlia- 
mentary system  which  is  said  to  breed  and  educate 
opportunists,  he  is,  at  least,  among  the  best  of  them. 
The  dangerous  opportunist  is  he  who  is  eager  for 
office  and  unwilling  to  leave  office.  Briand's  op- 
portunism is  based  on  the  sound  and  practised 
philosophy  of  one  as  wilHng  to  resign  office  as  he 
has  been  to  assume  its  responsibilities. 

For  the  sixth  time  Briand  last  came  into  power 
as  Prime  Minister  on  January  16,  1921.  Only  once 
had  he  actually  been  forced  from  office  by  adverse 
parliamentary  votes,  resigning  on  all  the  other  oc- 
casions because  the  time  seemed  unfavourable  for 
carrying  forward  his  policy  of  government. 

As  Prime  Minister  he  has  held  various  port- 
folios, generally  that  of  the  Interior,  but  when  he 
formed  this  post-war  ministry,  the  question  of  in- 
ternational relations  assuming  dominance,  Briand 
took  the  portfolio  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

He  began  his  political  career  as  an  advanced  So- 
cialist. He  was  a  working  man,  a  toiler  with  his 
hands,  but  his  fiery  political  speeches  so  delighted 
[62] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

his  fellows  that  they  pushed  him  on  and  upward  as 
their  adored  representative.  That  diplomat  of 
long  training,  Count  Wrangel,  while  Swedish  Min- 
ister for  Foreign  Affairs,  once  remarked  to  me  that 
when  a  Socialist  mounted  high  enough  to  view  the 
world  from  a  first  floor  balcony,  it  became  for  him 
quite  different  from  that  same  world  seen  from  the 
curbstone!  The  responsibilities  of  office  necessa- 
rily broadened  and  refined  the  Socialist  Briand. 
The  once  carelessly  garbed  working  man  has  be- 
come as  well  and  quietly  dressed  as  the  most  fas- 
tidious Londoner.  His  hair,  however,  remains 
longer  than  convention  demands,  but  his  dark  shock 
slightly  grey  at  the  sides,  adds  to  the  appearance  of 
strength  given  by  powerful  shoulders.  But  the 
feature  lingering  longest  in  memory  is  the  unwaver- 
ing gaze  of  his  intense  blue  eyes.  Most  great  men 
have  a  keen  gaze  because  they  have  no  time  for 
casual  glances,  and  Briand  is  like  other  great  men 
in  this  respect.  For  great  man  he  has  proved  him- 
self to  be  and  that,  too,  on  frequent  occasions, 
notably  when,  as  Prime  Minister  in  1910,  he,  a 
Socialist,  defeated  the  Socialist  railway  strike  by 
the  bold  expedient  of  summoning  the  strikers  to 
military  duty  and  then  assigning  them  to  service 

[63] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

on  the  very  railways  they  planned  to  desert. 
France  first  and  Socialism  second  was  then  his  idea, 
and  so  it  has  always  been  throughout  his  political 
career, — France  first  and  his  own  projects  second, 
even  when  that  meant  resignation  from  high  office, 
as  it  often  did. 

Briand  has  a  very  pleasant  sense  of  humour. 
When  at  the  famous  March,  1921  meeting  in  Lon- 
don, Lloyd  George,  expecting  a  reasonable  indem- 
nity suggestion  from  the  German  delegate,  Dr. 
Simons,  found  that  on  the  contrary  he  seemed  to  be 
putting  the  blame  for  the  war  on  the  Allies,  and 
almost  to  ask  an  apology  from  them  to  the  poor, 
overburdened  Germans,  the  British  Prime  Minis- 
ter pencilled  a  brief  note  to  Briand.  "In  five  min- 
utes' time,  you  will  hear  that  it  is  we  who  owe 
money  to  the  Germans."  Briand  said  nothing,  but 
took  out  his  watch  and  placed  it  on  the  table  before 
him.  At  the  end  of  exactly  five  minutes  he  pushecj 
the  watch  over  to  Lloyd  George  with  a  paper  on 
which  he  had  written  "Give  it  to  him,  and  give  him 
your  shirt  along  with  it." 

Even   sentiment,   so   potent   a   factor  with   all 
Latins,  never  prevents  Briand's  sense  of  humour 
from  functioning.    One  day  during  the  war  Briand, 
[64] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

then  Prime  Minister,  after  lunching  at  a  restaurant 
on  the  Rue  Royale  with  Lloyd  George,  set  out  on 
foot  with  him  for  the  Foreign  Office.  On  their 
way  through  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  they 
stopped  before  the  statue  of  Strasbourg,  draped  in 
crepe,  and  covered  with  banners  and  flowers  by 
devoted  Alsatians.  Said  Lloyd  George  with  much 
emotion,  "I  can  never  see  that  statue  in  its  trap- 
pings of  woe  without  an  unspeakable  sadness  com- 
ing over  me."  Briand  grasped  his  hand,  saying, 
"Rest  assured  that  when  this  war  ends,  we  will 
remove  those  sad  draperies."  The  distinguished 
Briton  became  thoughtful  for  a  moment  and  then 
continued,  "Perhaps,  if  some  day  after  the  war  I 
should  see  in  Berlin  a  statue  of  the  German  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine  similarly  draped  with  mourning, 
I  would  feel  the  same  emotion."  "Ah!"  replied 
Briand,  "learn  to  control  your  emotions,  lest  you 
should  also  come  upon  another  draped  statue  in 
Berlin  representing  the  German  colonies  that  the 
war  had  forced  you  to  take  from  Germany — it 
wouldn't  do  then  to  show  too  much  distress!" 

Prime  Ministers,  especially  French  ones,  must 
necessarily  make  enemies,  their  control  of  political 
patronage  alone  ensures  this,  for  as  a  prominent 

[65] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Tammanyite  once  remarked,  "When  you  fill  a  good 
job  it  always  means  creating  one  ingrate  and  a 
dozen  enemies."  But  Briand  also  knows  how  to 
make  and  keep  friends,  and  devoted  ones,  too.  One 
of  these  is  Maurice  Bunau-Varilla,  since  1903  sole 
owner  of  Le  Matin,  most  modernised  and  progres- 
sive of  all  the  Paris  dailies,  with  a  circulation  of  a 
million  copies.  His  square,  rugged  frame  topped 
by  a  determined  face,  with  closely  cropped  grey 
beard,  reminds  an  American  of  our  President 
Grant.  His  admiration  for  Briand  is  a  pretty 
thing  to  see,  but  he  is  not  always  amiable,  in  fact, 
he  is  sometimes  a  good  hater,  as  Georges  Clemen- 
ceau  knows  to  his  cost! 

Newspapers  have  more  direct  political  influence 
in  France  than  they  have  with  us,  which  is  partly 
explained  by  the  fact  that  there  sudden  storms  may 
upset  parliamentary  majorities,  which  means  oust- 
ing leaders,  a  danger  from  which  our  office-holders 
are  secure.  Having  just  cited  an  influential  jour- 
nalistic friend  of  Briand's  let  us  not  forget  an 
equally  fervent  enemy,  Andre  Geraud,  known  to 
American  readers  by  his  pen  name  of  Pertinax. 
This  active  and  able  writer  for  the  Echo  de  Paris 
and  its  owner,  Henri  Simond,  attack  Briand  with 
[66] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

as  much  enthusiasm  as  they  supported  Millerand 
when  Prime  Minister.  Taken  together,  Geraud 
and  Simond  make  an  highly  effective  journalistic 
team,  and  there  is  no  gainsaying  that  there  is  never 
a  dull  paragraph  in  articles  signed  Pertinax. 

The  anti-aristocratic  movement  which  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  set  the  guillotine  at  work 
cutting  off  the  heads  of  nobles,  has  never  died  out  in 
France.  Even  during  the  last  war,  when  France 
needed  every  man,  members  of  the  ancient  haute 
noblesse  frequently  suffered  from  being  considered 
too  aristocratic,  and  certain  ones  were  even  refused 
commissions.  Beneath  the  surface  of  Republican 
France  there  continually  smoulders  a  monarchical 
minority  and  the  press  champion  of  this  element  is 
that  picturesque  figure,  Arthur  Meyer,  editor  of  the 
Gaulois.  Needless  to  say,  the  gentler  sex,  espe- 
cially they  of  the  smart  set,  favour  this  brand  of 
politics,  so  it  follows  that  the  Gaulois  penetrates 
into  more  Paris  salons  than  any  other  sheet,  and 
indeed,  its  vivacious,  well-written  columns  deserve 
that  recognition  from  a  class  so  interested  in  mat- 
ters artistic  and  literary.  The  Temps  is  the  Paris 
paper  that  more  nearly  approximates  the  type  rep- 
resented by  the  great  London  and  New  York  jour- 

[67] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

nals.  While  the  serious  weight  of  its  front  page 
articles  may  not  overturn  Ministries  so  readily  as 
can  some  of  its  livelier  neighbours,  yet  support  from 
its  clear,  sound  reasoning  goes  far  to  establish  the 
record  of  deserving  statesmen.  Such  newspaper- 
reading  folk  as  Americans  are  naturally  surprised 
to  learn  that  the  Petit  Parisien  has  a  daily  circula- 
tion of  over  1,600,000,  a  world  record,  a  little  more 
than  its  leading  London  rival,  the  Daily  Mail,  and 
more  than  twice  what  our  "best  sellers"  can  show. 
It  was  brought  up  to  these  vast  totals  by  Senator 
Jean  Dupuy,  and  upon  his  death,  his  son,  Paul 
Dupuy,  who  has  succeeded  him  as  Senator,  has 
proved  himself  an  equally  skilful  editor.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  French  newspapers  have  more  real 
political  influence  than  do  ours.  When  George  Mc- 
Clellan  was  elected  Mayor  of  New  York  City  by  a 
handsome  majority  all  the  papers  but  one  opposed 
him  vigorously.  If  such  a  journalistic  broadside 
had  been  turned  loose  in  Paris  it  would  have  doomed 
any  candidate,  no  matter  what  his  worth  or  backing. 
Although  the  French  parliamentary  system  un- 
doubtedly puts  a  premium  on  opportunism,  their 
Prime  Ministers  occasionally  surprise  friends  and 
hearten  enemies  by  trying,  at  least  for  a  while,  to 
[68] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

breast  the  current  of  public  opinion.  Recently 
Briand  took  such  a  chance  and  with  his  eyes  open 
to  its  danger.  During  the  trying  period  caused  by 
disagreement  between  the  French  and  English  as 
to  the  proper  handling  of  the  Upper  Silesia  prob- 
lem and  that  of  German  reparations,  it  was  the 
fashion  for  certain  London  journalistic  extremists 
to  characterise  as  "Wild  Men"  the  nationalistic 
block  in  the  French  parliament  which  under  the 
masterly  leadership  of  ex-President  Poincare  urged 
using  force  to  the  uttermost  with  the  Germans. 
They,  and  indeed  most  Parisians,  clamoured  for 
French  occupation  of  the  Ruhr  and  other  indus- 
trial districts  in  Germany,  while  many  shouted  "On 
to  Berlin  I"  It  would  have  certainly  proved  a 
widely  popular  move  for  the  Prime  Minister  to 
make.  He  had  already  called  to  the  colours  nearly 
200,000  men  recently  released  from  military  serv- 
ice,— why  not  draw  the  sabre  and  sound  the  ad- 
vance ! 

But  Briand  did  not.  He  knew  that  the  French, 
although  always  gallant  fighters,  were  not  really  a 
militaristic  nation,  and  he  also  knew  it  would  be 
hurtful  if  the  outside  world  had  reason  for  consid- 
ering them  militaristic.     He  was  right,  for  so  far 

[69] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

as  America  is  concerned  he  would  certainly  have 
alienated  American  support  if  he  had  yielded  to  the 
public  clamour  in  that  regard,  for  we  do  not  like 
"the  man  on  horseback"  and  we  are  opposed  to 
militarism  for  all  time.  France  has  suffered  from 
German  depredations  far  more  than  any  other  na- 
tion and  she  urgently  needed  money  to  repair  her 
miles  of  devastated  towns,  and  certainly  Germany 
had  done  her  utmost  to  postpone  and  reduce  repa- 
ration payments.  There  was  every  excuse  for  a 
French  desire  to  crush  Germany  economically  or  to 
wring  huge  repayments  from  her.  But  to  do  both 
was  impossible, — the  same  cow  cannot  at  the  same 
time  yield  both  beef  and  milk.  What  was  to  be 
France's  policy?  First,  let  us  consider  the  general 
situation,  for  in  that  way  we  can  come  to  see  how, 
under  the  French  political  system,  a  leader  can  de- 
velop a  policy. 

A  curious  omission  from  the  document  signed 
at  London  May  5,  1921,  fixing  the  amount  that 
Germany  must  pay  the  Allies  was  that  it  neglected 
to  offer  the  Germans  any  inducement  for  advanc- 
ing those  payments,  either  in  cash  or  material.  The 
French  Prime  Minister  came  to  see  this  omission 
and  developed  an  original  line  of  policy  which  may 
[70] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

prove  more  productive  of  future  benefit  to  France 
and  peace  for  Europe  than  the  strictest  enforce- 
ment of  the  Versailles  Treaty.  His  Minister  of 
Finance,  Paul  Doumer,  was  one  of  the  few  French- 
men who  opposed  occupying  the  Ruhr  district  to 
enforce  payment  of  the  German  indemnity,  be- 
cause he  believed  there  were  other  ways  of  getting 
it  not  so  crippling  to  the  payer's  powers  of  payment. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  matter,  the  new  German 
administration  had  the  wisdom  to  realise  that  since 
the  amount  of  these  payments  was  now  fixed,  the 
time  for  dilatory  haggling  was  past,  and  that  the 
best  move  for  regaining  German  credit  abroad  was 
to  live  up  to  the  terms  of  the  London  pact.  For 
over  two  years  there  had  been  many  meetings  of 
numerous  principals  around  variously  shaped  large 
tables,  but  now  common  sense  indicated  that  rav- 
aged France  needed  face  to  face  dealings  with  Ger- 
many in  order  to  get  German  reconstructive  aid  di- 
rectly and  quickly. 

Briand  sent  Loucheur  (the  French  Cabinet  offi- 
cer particularly  charged  with  the  devastated  re- 
gions) to  meet  at  Wiesbaden  Rathenau,  the  Ger- 
man Minister  of  Reconstruction.  They  were  both 
hardheaded,  practical  men.     The  former  had  made 

[71] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

a  large  fortune  during  the  war  by  farsighted  busi- 
ness dealings,  and  the  latter  was  president  of  the 
Allgemeine  Elektrieitats  Gesellschaft,  a  great  com- 
mercial enterprise  resembling  our  General  Electric 
Company.     These  two  experienced  business  men 
lost  no  time  in  coming  to  terms,  and  devised  a  plan 
whereby  Germany  might  work  out  part  of  her 
money  payments  by  providing  German-made  ma- 
terial for  use  in  French  reconstruction.     This  solu- 
tion of  the  French  reparation  question  has  a  more 
reasonable  economic  basis  than  any  theretofore  de- 
vised.    France   gets   her   reconstructive   material 
much  earlier  than  she  originally  expected,  while 
Germany  is  relieved  from  finding  a  certain  amount 
of  cash  and*  at  the  same  time  finds  employment  for 
her  people.     To  carry  through  this  move  endan- 
gered Briand's  tenure  of  office,  but  he  boldly  faced 
the   danger,    and    slowly   French    public   opinion 
swung  around  to  a  realisation  of  his  patriotic  sagac- 
ity.    Not  only  did  he  thereby  secure  material  to  re- 
pair the  ravaged  provinces  at  earlier  dates  than 
originally  set,  but  at  the  same  time  he  protected 
France  from  the  charge  of  militarism  which  the 
continued  occupation  of  Germany's  industrial  dis- 
[72] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

trict  of  the  Ruhr  would  certainly  have  aroused 
abroad. 

Loueheur,  the  Minister  whom  he  employed  so 
successfully  in  these  delicate  negotiations,  personi- 
fies a  new  element  which  the  war  has  brought  into 
French  politics.  Many  Parisians  made  profits  in 
war  contracts,  and  not  a  few  of  them  are  beginning 
for  the  first  time  to  take  part  in  politics.  Just 
because  they  are  not  trained  to  the  old  rules  of  the 
game  they  are  bringing  into  it  new  methods — more 
direct,  forceful,  and  businesslike  than  were  the  old 
ones  so  long  in  vogue  among  their  numerous  pro- 
fessional politicians.  This  new  force  is  tending  to 
invigorate  French  public  life,  and  Loueheur  in- 
carnates it  to  the  full.  It  will  be  sm-prising  if  he 
does  not  become  Prime  Minister  before  many  years 
have  elapsed.  Loueheur  is  sometimes  disconcert- 
ingly practical  in  his  departmental  methods.  One 
day  while  inspecting  some  reconstruction  work  in 
the  devastated  regions  of  Northern  France,  a  glib- 
spoken  superintendent  started  in  to  tell  the  Min- 
ister certain  glittering  generalities  upon  the  work 
in  hand.  Loueheur  suddenly  interrupted  his  flow 
of  oratory  by  asking  the  curi'ent  price  at  that  point 
of    cement    and    brick.     When    the    functionary 

[73] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

proved  unable  to  reply,  Loucheiir  commented  dryly 
upon  his  attack  of  forgetfulness,  and  soon  there- 
after the  man  found  himself  amputated  from  the 
government  payroll. 

Another  class  of  French  society  also  gained  large 
financial  benefits  from  the  war, — the  farmers. 
They  have  become  of  late  a  great  force  in  French 
politics,  thus  far  only  defensively,  in  avoiding  taxa- 
tion, but  later  they  will  surely  grow  more  aggres- 
sive. In  the  old  days  many,  if  not  most  of  them 
used  to  rent  the  land  they  tilled,  but  now  the  ten- 
ant-farmer has  ceased  to  exist — they  have  all  re- 
cently bought  their  farms.  There  were  two  million 
American  soldiers  in  France,  and  it  is  estimated 
that  on  an  average  they  spent  a  dollar  a  day  apiece 
out  of  their  own  pockets — this  makes  $2,000,000  a 
day,  and  most  of  it  went  to  the  French  farmers,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  millions  spent  by  our  Govern- 
ment to  supply  rations  to  these  very  soldiers.  The 
difference  between  the  city  profiteers  and  the  farm- 
ers is  that  the  former  are  few,  while  the  latter  rep- 
resent a  very  large  vote,  which  has  the  same  results 
that  it  would  have  in  any  other  republic,  viz:  those 
representing  the  large  vote  are  not  taxed!  The 
needs  of  the  French  budget  will  doubtless  bring 
[74] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

about  a  correction  of  this  state  of  affairs,  when  the 
farmer  vote  will  have  to  pass  from  the  defensive 
to  the  aggressive. 

In  America,  we  are  sometimes  critical  of  our  gov- 
ernmental system  because  it  gives  a  President  com- 
plete executive  power  for  four  years,  even  though 
the  people  may  in  the  meantime  have  tired  of  his 
policies,  and  wish  another  party  than  his  were  in 
charge  of  affairs.     On  such  occasions,  we  sigh  long- 
ingly   for    the    European    parliamentary    system 
where  any  day  loss  of  confidence  in  the  Executive 
can  be  expressed  by  an  adverse  vote  of  the  peo- 
ple's representatives  assembled  in  ParHament,  and 
out  goes  the  governing  head,  to  make  room  for  an- 
other who  can  command  an  approving  parliamen- 
tary majority.     The  fact  is  that  both  systems  have 
their  defects  as  well  as  their  advantages,  for  while 
it  is  true  that  ours  may  keep  in  power  a  President 
or  a  party  long  after  they  have  outstayed  their 
welcome,  so  also  is  the  foreign  parliamentary  system 
open  to  criticism  because  it  permits  such  abrupt 
and  sometimes  frequent  changes  of  executive  as  to 
block  development  of  policies  requiring  time  to  bear 
fruit. 

Take  Jonescu,  the  astute  Roumanian  Minister 

[75] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

for  Foreign  Affairs,  expressed  to  me  the  opinion 
that  Europe  would  have  to  come  to  an  approxima- 
tion of  the  American  system  so  as  to  allow  more 
time  for  the  working  out  of  policies.  He  may  be 
right.  But  to-day  the  fact  is  that,  in  Europe,  and 
especially  in  France,  the  Legislative  branch  of  gov- 
ernment has  usurped  the  powers  of  the  Executive. 
The  real  president  of  the  French  government,  from 
an  American  point  of  view,  is  not  the  French  Presi- 
dent at  all,  but  the  Prime  Minister. 

And  in  its  practical  working  out  what  is  the  re- 
sult of  this  usurpation  of  the  executive  by  the  legis- 
lative? Suppose,  for  example,  it  should  seem  to 
French  leaders  of  patriotic  thought  that  it  would 
be  usefully  expedient  to  sell  to  the  United  States 
the  French  possessions  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  (their 
islands  and  also  French  Guiana)  partly  because 
that  sale  would  materially  reduce  their  war  debt 
to  us,  but  chiefly  because  of  the  friendly  reaction 
sure  to  be  produced  in  the  United  States  by  such 
French  recognition  of  our  widespread  desire  that 
the  Caribbean  Sea  become  Pan- Americanised  and 
the  mouth  of  both  our  Mississippi  River  and  our 
Panama  Canal  be  freed  from  European  control  of 
nearby  islands  or  naval  bases.  Such  a  French  pol- 
[76] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

icy,  productive  of  both  financial  relief  and  useful 
improvement  in  Franco- American  relations  would 
hardly  be  possible  for  a  Prime  Minister  working 
under  the  present  European  system.  Why?  Be- 
cause Briand  or  any  other  French  leader  would  al- 
most certainly  be  voted  down  in  the  Chambre  des 
Deputes  should  he  propose  such  a  measure,  since 
its  membership  is  not  yet  prepared  to  look  so  far 
ahead.  All  the  jingoes  would  denounce  it — 
"where  the  French  tri-colour  flies  it  must  remain!" 
etc.,  etc. — you  can  picture  to  yourself  the  opportu- 
nity for  fire-eating  oratory  such  a  suggestion  would 
offer  to  any  parliament!  The  real  executive  in 
France  is  the  Prime  Minister,  but  he  would  not 
dare  attempt  to  put  through  any  such  novel  meas- 
ure of  questionable  popularity;  our  real  executive 
is  the  President,  and  he  has  four  years  in  which  to 
educate  and  lead  the  people  up  to  a  policy  unpopu- 
lar at  first  but  so  inherently  sound  as  mature  de- 
liberation would  finally  show  France  is  the  sale  to 
us  of  its  West  Indian  lands  at  present  costing 
them  large  annual  deficits.  There  would  be  no  bet- 
ter way  to  strengthen  their  hold  upon  the  heart  of 
so  idealistic  a  people  as  those  dwelling  under  the 
Stars  and  Stripes. 

[77] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

But  what  about  the  President  of  the  French  Re- 
pubhc,  might  he  not  be  able  to  undertake  such  a 
pohcy  so  impossible* to  a  Premier?  The  President 
is  elected  for  seven  years,  and  is  therefore  above  and 
secure  from  the  temporary  disapproval  of  the 
Chambre  des  Deputes.  No  American  can  say  if 
the  present  incumbent  of  that  high  office,  Alexan- 
dre Millerand,  would  favour  such  a  forward-faced 
policy.  But  if  he  should  come  to  approve  it,  could 
he  exercise  the  political  leadership  necessary  to 
carry  it  through  the  early  days  of  its  unpopularity 
until  a  campaign  of  patriotic  education  made  it 
popular?  And  why  not?  For  although  the  po- 
litical power  of  the  French  Presidency  is  severely 
limited  still  he  always  has  the  ear  of  the  people,  a 
most  important  fact  in  matters  of  statecraft,  and 
peculiarly  is  this  true  of  President  Millerand.  As 
Prime  Minister  and  at  the  same  time  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  he  exhibited  such  skill  and  discre- 
tion as  to  gain  the  complete  confidence  of  his  com- 
patriots and  universal  respect  abroad  for  his  na- 
tion and  himself.  And  when  the  unfortunate  ill- 
ness of  President  Deschanel  necessitated  his  resig- 
nation (a  trying  episode  most  tactfully  met  by  the 
[78] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

French  press  and  people),  it  was  to  Millerand  that 
in  September,  1920  all  turned  as  the  natural  suc- 
cessor to  the  retiring  president. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  of  solid 
worth  and  deliberation  of  purpose  he  made  upon 
me  when,  at  his  invitation,  we  talked  together 
at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  a  few 
days  after  the  Republican  Convention  had  been 
held  at  Chicago  in  June,  1920.  Although  his 
shaggy  growth  of  white  hair  and  bulkier  form 
differed  from  the  trim  grey  head  and  compacter 
build  of  George  B.  Cortelyou,  the  French  states- 
man's calm,  steady  manner  and  poise  of  head  was 
strangely  like  President  McKinley's  stenographer 
who  became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  inter- 
view reminded  me  greatly  of  one  held  with  Cor- 
telyou when  he  was  serving  as  Republican  National 
Chairman, — the  same  brief  but  searching  questions, 
showing  wide  information  already  possessed  by  the 
questioner,  and  the  same  logical  development  mark- 
ing the  enquiries.  With  both  men  the  smile  that 
occasionally  himianised  the  questions  came  in  the 
same  gentle  way. 

President  Millerand's  favourite  outdoor  recrea- 

[79] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

tion  is  walking,  while  indoors  he  is  devoted  to  bil- 
liards, which  he  plays  badly.  Almost  everybody 
beats  him,  so  one  day  a  certain  sagacious  spirit  sug- 
gested that  it  might  be  politic  to  select  players  poor 
enough  to  let  the  President  win.  "They  don't  ex- 
ist," replied  a  familiar  of  the  Presidential  Mansion. 
He  is  also  very  fond  of  dominoes,  but  at  this  game 
he  is  better  than  at  billiards.  One  might  venture 
to  suggest  that  a  French  office-seeker  would  do 
as  well  to  play  dominoes  with  his  President  as  Lord 
Lee  of  Fareham  did  to  play  "Chequers"  with  the 
British  Prime  Minister! — the  gift  of  that  charm- 
ing estate  as  a  country  home  for  the  head  of  the 
Government  was  certainly  a  farsighted  courtesy! 
Yes,  in  Millerand  the  French  unquestionably 
possess  a  politician-statesman  able,  when  occasion 
arises,  to  lead  them  in  a  policy  whose  early  unpopu- 
larity bars  its  adoption  by  a  Prime  Minister  because 
French  parliamentary  methods  necessitate  prac- 
tical opportunism  in  its  manager.  And  why  should 
so  logical  a  folk  as  the  French  endure  complete 
atrophy  of  such  potentially  beneficial  co-operation 
by  their  President  in  national  statesmanship  ?  Our 
Executive  possesses  this  power  for  good,  and  al- 
though French  Prime  Ministers  dare  not  espouse 
[80] 


PRESENT  DAY  OFFICIAL  FRANCE 

unpopular  policies  of  "longue  haleine,"  why  is  not 
that  a  field  in  which  their  Presidents  may,  without 
arousing  conflict  with  the  parliamentary  executive, 
develop  a  usefulness  to  the  nation  which  now  seems 
lacking? 


[81] 


CHAPTER  III:  MAKERS  OF  THE 
GERMAN  REPUBLIC 


CHAPTER  III 

MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

IF  the  world  had  not  for  four  years  supped  to 
satiety  on  horrors  the  German  revolution  would 
have  won  more  popular  interest.  As  a  moving  pic- 
ture production  the  revolution  came  a  little  too 
late  to  draw  the  crowd. 

But  it  must  not  be  regarded  as  undramatic. 
Differing  in  every  detail  from  the  French  Revolu- 
tion the  German  has  qualities  of  its  own  which  will 
come  to  be  more  widely  appreciated  as  time  goes 
on.  There  are  two  reasons  among  several  why  it 
did  not  promptly  startle  the  world.  One  of  these 
is  that  the  world  doubted  for  a  long  time  if  it  were 
real,  if  the  German  people  meant  it.  And  secondly, 
the  man  who  headed  it  or  whose  name  was  used  to 
lead  the  Social  Democrats  proved  to  be  as  different 
from  Marat,  Danton,  Robespierre  or  their  later 
incarnations,  Lenin  and  Trotsky,  as  a  mouse  is 
from  a  tiger.  Friedrich  Ebert,  the  saddler!  A 
poor  soul,  born  in  humble  circumstances,  who  better 
than  he  could  represent  the  proletariat?    It  was  a 

[85] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

glorious  opportunity,  but  the  man  was  wanting  in 
the  qualities — bold  and  bad,  it  is  true — that  we  de- 
mand in  a  revolutionary.  The  men  whose  names 
are  reminiscent  of  the  great  revolt  of  the  French 
proletariat  lived  by  violence  and  died  by  violence. 
The  saddler,  the  hand-worker  whom  they  made  pro- 
visional president  of  the  German  Republic  will  die 
in  a  feather  bed. 

He  disappoints  us  by  his  unfitness  for  the  task 
just  as  he  disappointed  us  by  his  mildness  as  a 
leader  of  an  overturning  that  now  promises  to  be 
as  enduring  as  its  French  prototype.  But  all 
actors  cannot  be  cast  in  tragedy  and  melodrama, 
some  are  born  to  act  in  little  plays  like  that  Shake- 
speare interpolated  into  "Midsummer  Night's 
Dream."  And  what  a  Bottom  Ebert  would  have 
made!  Or  if  not  equipped  for  that  role  he  might 
have  carried  off  that  of  Lion  and  "roared  you  as 
gently  as  any  sucking  dove." 

But,  say  what  you  will  in  expression  of  your  dis- 
appointment at  not  finding  in  Ebert  a  hero  who 
shall  first  kill  widely  and  then  be  killed,  he  is  typ- 
ical of  a  large  part  of  the  German  population  and 
he  and  his  kind  provide  the  strongest  assurance 
that  Germany  is  likely  to  remain  a  republic,  and 
[86] 


^igfg^gigmggllgjIgKI 


JOSEF  WTBTH 

The  German  Prime  Minister 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

that  the  monarchy's  house  of  cards  is  not  apt  to 
be  set  up  again.  The  Germans  themselves  show 
this  in  their  treatment  of  him;  they  like  him  but 
he  is  of  such  a  familiar  type  that  they  don't  con- 
sider him. 

They  give  him  a  palace  to  live  in  where  he  slides 
around  like  a  pea  in  an  empty  market  basket.  They 
provide  a  soldier  to  guard  his  palace  and  a  carriage 
in  which  to  take  the  air.  But  as  he  passes,  solitary, 
they  do  not  look  at  him. 

Why  should  they  regard  this  middle-sized  man 
with  a  leaning  to  corpulency,  who  does  not  under- 
stand formality,  who  does  not  pretend  to  intellec- 
tuality, who  is,  in  fact,  unpretentious  in  every- 
thing? He  is  friendly,  amiable,  obliging;  he  is 
fond  of  people  and  he  is  quite  sure  they  will  never 
hm't  him.     He  is  a  political  cipher. 

But  added  to  the  figures  that  make  up  the  revo- 
lution some  words  should  be  devoted  to  him,  if  only 
upon  the  strange  anomaly  that  pushed  this  product 
of  Heidelberg — the  town,  and  not  the  university 
— through  four  turbulent  years  of  war  to  the  front 
line  of  politics.  How  he  was  called,  this  Bottom, 
to  be  the  leader  of  the  Social  Democrats,  how  he 
was  summoned  in  this  capacity  to  the  Chancellor's 

[89] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

palace  to  be  consulted  by  the  Chancellor  in  those 
hectic  days  just  preceding  the  armistice  will  one 
day  be  told  by  a  score  of  writers,  each  of  whom  will 
tell  it  differently  except  for  one  thing,  a  descrip- 
tion of  Ebert  with  his  trembling  hands  that  could 
hardly  hold  a  proclamation  and  his  mysterious 
countenance  and  his  more  mysterious  words. 

Prince  Max  had  been  kept  waiting.  Revolution, 
starting  at  Kiel,  had  spread  like  a  storm  over  the 
realm.  Berlin  alone  was  comparatively  quiet. 
But  the  revolting  sailors  had  sent  their  emissaries 
to  all  points  of  the  compass  and  to  Berlin  last. 
What  were  the  Social  Democrats  about  to  pro- 
pose? 

They  kept  Prince  Max  waiting  because  Ebert  did 
not  fancy  the  idea  of  carrying  the  message  that  had 
been  prepared.  There  might  be  a  harsh  reception 
given  to  the  messenger.  At  last,  when  it  could  be 
delayed  no  longer,  Friedrich  Ebert  appeared  at  77 
Wilhelmstrasse  and  handed  to  Prince  Max  the  ul- 
timatum of  the  Social  Democrats. 

He  was  received  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger. 
Prince  Max  had  been  warned  that  force  and  not 
persuasion  was  to  rule.     He  resigned.     This  was 
the  afternoon  of  November  7,  1918. 
[90] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

On  Sunday,  November  10,  the  new,  purely  soci- 
alistic government  was  born;  six  men  divided  the 
Chancellor's  portfolio,  three  Social  Democrats; 
Ebert,  Schiedemann,  Landsberg:  three  indepen- 
dents; Haase,  Dittmann  and  Barth. 

For  seven  days  this  government  so  constituted 
battled  for  its  existence.  It  might  have  been  ridi- 
culed out  of  life  but  those  days  were  too  serious 
for  ridicule.  The  election  of  a  National  Assembly 
helped  these  officials  to  tide  over  days  of  dismay 
and  desertion,  a  general  collapse.  Then  on  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1919,  an  emergency  constitution  was 
adopted  and  Friedrich  Ebert  was  elected  provi- 
sional President  of  the  German  Republic. 

With  the  fall  of  a  baroque  Emperor  intrinsi- 
cally unsuited  to  rule  the  simple,  industrious  Ger- 
man people  the  world  stood  ready  to  welcome  the 
great  man  who  should  pick  up  and  bind  together  a 
government  suited  to  them.  The  world,  always  a 
hero  worshipper,  would  have  made  a  hero  of  Ebert, 
but  as  his  personality  emerged  it  laughed  instead. 
Finally  it  realised  that  the  Spirit  of  the  German 
People  was  the  heroic  element  in  the  revolution. 
It  was  this  spirit  which  snuffed  out  the  Kapp- 
Putsch  and  which  called  the  great  public  meetings 

[91] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

throughout  the  country  that  prevented  a  reaction- 
ary movement  when  Erzberger  was  assassinated. 

This  spirit,  when  the  animosities  fostered  by  the 
war  and  encouraged  by  the  wrangling  of  factions 
have  yielded  to  the  softening  process  of  time  will 
be  more  and  more  clearly  seen  to  be  the  soul  of 
the  German  revolution.  It,  rather  than  the  politi- 
cal success  of  this  or  that  party,  knits  the  republic 
into  unity  and  strength  and  promises  it  endurance. 
And  while  prophecy  is  seldom  reliable,  in  this  case 
circumstances  more  or  less  excuse  it  and  make  gen- 
eral the  belief  that  the  German  Republic  has  come 
to  stay. 

If,  when  directed  so  wretchedly  and  along  a  los- 
ing path  a  nation  was  able  to  accomplish  the  great 
things  done  by  Germany,  how  far  may  she  not  be 
expected  to  go  when  her  head  has  emerged  from 
the  mists,  and  she  sees  and  follows  the  right  road  ? 

The  German  workman  before  the  war  toiled  and 
seemed  contented,  although  he  seldom  had  more 
than  one  meat  ration  per  week.  Now  he  has  three 
or  four,  and  in  spite  of  politics,  in  spite  of  the  fall 
of  the  mark,  in  spite  of  everything,  he  is  the  happiest 
workingman  in  the  world  to-day.  Labour  in  Ger- 
many is  restricted  by  law  to  eight  hours  a  day  un- 
[92] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

less  the  workers  unite  in  petitioning  for  longer 
hours.  When  in  Germany  I  kept  count  of  the  fac- 
tories in  which  the  workmen  so  petitioned,  but  gave 
it  up  when  the  thirtieth  was  reached  because  the 
movement  seemed  so  general.  This  significant 
phenomenon  is  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 
It  spells  increased  production  at  a  time  when 
everywhere  else  production  tends  to  diminish. 
Where  else  in  the  world  are  to  be  found  working- 
men  who  ask  for  added  hours  of  work?  This  rare 
bird  sings,  it  would  appear,  only  in  Germany. 

The  road  of  politics  has  been  stonier  than  that 
of  industry.  Cabinet  after  cabinet,  chancellor  after 
chancellor  bloomed  for  a  day  and  next  day  was  cut 
down  like  the  grass.  The  Mueller,  the  Fehrenbach 
ministries,  the  "Make  shift,"  the  "Predicament" 
cabinets  lasted  only  so  long  as  their  names  would 
imply.  Finally  Josef  Wirth  of  the  Centrist  or 
Clerical  party  became  Chancellor.  He  had  been 
Minister  of  Finance  in  the  Baden  Cabinet,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baden  Diet  and  Centrist  leader  in  South 
Germany.  Also  both  in  Mueller's  and  Fehren- 
bach's  cabinets  he  had  held  the  portfolio  of  Finance. 

Therefore  he  came  to  the  task  of  the  Chancellor 
fully  aware  of  the  difficulties  in  store.    He  was  not 

[93] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

a  neophyte,  nor  a  pessimist  nor  an  optimist.  He 
is  besides,  the  youngest  and  most  ambitious  of  the 
long  line  of  post-war  Chancellors.  He  took  office 
in  May,  1921,  when  no  one  else  wanted  it,  with  the 
expressed  determination  to  carry  out  the  terms  of 
the  London  ultimatum. 

Some  years  before  the  war,  an  intelligent  Amer- 
ican named  Wile  wrote  "Men  About  the  Kaiser" — 
a  group  picture  of  different  personalities  each  con- 
tributing elements  of  power  to  the  "All  Powerful" 
monarch,  as  he  was  believed  by  them  to  be.  These 
blossoms  on  the  Prussian  military  plant  showed  it 
to  be  of  a  sturdy  growth,  and  that  it  had  wide- 
spreading  roots.  The  war  has  cut  off  these  blos- 
soms and  proved  the  plant  to  be  of  ill  service  to 
the  German  people.  Have  its  roots  been  injured? 
Will  it  blossom  again?  It  is  still  too  early  to  say. 
But  meanwhile  the  productive  energy  of  the  Teu- 
tonic stock  has  not  been  idle,  a  new  plant  has 
sprung  up  and  perhaps  from  a  consideration  of  its 
first  group  of  blossoms  we  may  venture  to  judge  if 
the  plant  will  be  of  permanent  growth,  and  if  that 
growth  will  benefit  the  Germany  of  to-morrow. 

From  the  Germans  now  in  the  public  eye,  let  us 
single  out  for  observation  Josef  Wirth,  the  Chan- 
[94] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

cellor,  Friederich  Rosen,  the  Minister  for  Foreign 
Affairs  up  to  a  couple  of  months  ago, — Hugo 
Stinnes,  the  apotheosis  of  enterprise  in  "big  busi- 
ness,"— Max  Warburg  the  banker,  and  last  but 
perhaps  most  significant  of  all,  Walther  Rathenau. 
These  men  personify  Germany's  new  position  since 
the  war,  and  pei^haps  if  we  sit  down  with  them  for 
awhile,  we  will  rise  with  the  conclusion  that  this 
group  incarnates  a  spirit  of  better  national  promise 
than  could  ever  have  been  expected  from  the  men 
around  and  influencing  the  Kaiser.  These  new 
men  are  stationed  around  no  dispenser  of  royal 
favour,  but  are  standing  for  the  conserving  of  Ger- 
many's present  in  such  fashion  as  constructively  to 
protect  her  future. 

The  reader  will  at  once  object,  "but  why  include 
Hugo  Stinnes  in  such  a  patriotic  category? — is  he 
not  interested  only  in  his  own  pocket? — can  war 
profiteering  in  any  land  show  so  colossal  a  figure? 
— a  man  whose  acquisitiveness  refuses  to  specialise 
as  do  his  prototypes  in  other  countries.  News- 
papers by  the  dozens,  mines,  shipping  lines,  in- 
dustrial enterprises  in  a  score  of  fields — all  are 
equally  fish  for  his  mighty  net,  he  gathers  them  all 
in  with  a  catholicity  of  taste  that  makes  the  aver- 

[95] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

age  maligned  plutocrat  seem  a  contented  fisher- 
man on  the  banks  of  a  small  stream. 

To  all  these  questions  "Yes"  is  a  proper  answer, 
but  to  them  all  collectively,  so  is  "No."  More  than 
once  in  the  months  leading  up  to  May  5,  1921, 
when  in  London  the  Allies  fixed  the  amount  of  the 
German  indemnity,  was  Stinnes  to  be  seen  aiding 
his  none  too  stable  government  to  carry  on  its  nego- 
tiations and  its  work.  True,  he  made  much  money 
out  of  the  war,  but  also  he  has  proved  a  great  fac- 
tor for  stabilising  business  in  many  fields  during 
the  chaos  that  came  with  shattered  government 
finance,  a  currency  that  dropped  out  of  sight,  vacil- 
lation in  plans  for  taxation,  and  lack  of  public  and 
private  confidence. 

Along  with  the  news  of  Stinnes'  profits  came  the 
assurance  to  smaller  men  that  if  he  could  be  doing 
business  so  could  they,  and  they  went  to  work.  In- 
deed, one  of  the  most  outstanding  economic  facts  of 
Germany  to-day  is  that  everybody  has  gone  to  work. 
Any  one  who  read  the  newspaper  accounts  describ- 
ing Stinnes'  alleged  outrageous  manner  at  the  Aix 
la  Chapelle  conference,  his  domineering  insistence 
upon  his  own  indemnity  plan,  and  his  intolerance 
of  conflicting  opinions,  naturally  concluded  that 
[96] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

here  was  the  incarnation  of  the  Prussian  mihtary 
spirit. 

When  I  met  the  man  in  Berlin  at  the  end 
of  May,  1921,  I  was  never  so  surprised  in  my  Hfe. 
Instead  of  the  unreasoning  bully,  he  appeared  the 
quietest  of  men,  with  a  pleasant  blue  eye.  Strange 
looking  he  certainly  is,  for  his  closely  cropped  hair 
and  beard  are  of  exactly  the  same  length  all  over 
his  head  and  face — an  even  coating  throughout  of 
the  same  colour,  as  it  were!  And  with  it  all  so 
gentle  and  modest  a  manner  and  so  simple  a  dress. 
No,  said  he,  it  was  not  fair  to  allege  he  had  ac- 
quired three  hundred  newspapers,  he  personally 
owned  only  one  outright,  and  although  he  had 
bought  an  interest  in  many  stock  companies  it  was 
rather  to  help  straighten  out  their  tangled  affairs! 
As  long  ago  as  1893  he  founded  a  firm  that  now  has 
thirty  foreign  branches.  He  spoke  mostly,  and 
convincingly,  too,  of  the  advantage  he  thought  pos- 
sessed by  the  German  cartel  or  syndicate  system 
for  foreign  trade  over  our  trusts, — that  by  their 
method  they  conserved  all  the  personal  initiative  in 
the  various  companies  combining  for  some  export 
purpose,  and  did  not  rely  so  much  on  centralisation 
as  Americans  do.     He  is  well  informed  on  labour 

[97] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

conditions,  for  it  is  estimated  that  the  companies 
he  controls  employ  127,000  men!  Obviously  here 
was  a  novel  human  factor  in  German  national  ad- 
vance— a  type  one  could  not  imagine  dangling 
around  a  Kaiser,  for  to  such  as  he  royal  favour  and 
high  decorations  mean  nothing.  The  man's  chief 
joy  is  clearly  work,  and  as  many  hours  of  it  per 
day  as  possible.  Meals  are  an  interruption,  as  one 
saw  when  Stinnes  would  slip  downstairs  to  the 
Adlon  restaurant  from  the  upstairs  suite  where  his 
inner  working  force  is  installed,  swallow  a  hasty 
meal  at  strange  hom's,  and  hurry  back  to  the  only 
thing  that  interests  him — work,  and  then  more 
work! 

When  the  Allies  fixed  the  amount  of  their  finan- 
cial demands  on  Germany,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  find  some  German  who  would  sign  the  docu- 
ment accepting  those  terms,  it  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  whoever  signed  it  would  thereby  commit 
political  suicide,  so  unpopular  at  home  would  that 
act  be.  And  this  was  believed  just  as  firmly  inside 
of  Germany  as  outside,  so  when  Josef  Wirth  under- 
took to  form  a  Cabinet  to  carry  forward  business 
under  this  onerous  document  he  was  considered 
both  at  home  and  abroad  a  foolhardy  soul  whose 
[98] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

head  would  soon  topple  into  the  political  waste 
basket. 

When  I  saw  the  man  a  fortnight  after  he  signed 
the  fateful  paper  he  seemed  far  from  a  moribund 
politician !  Tall,  heavily  but  powerfully  built,  with 
a  faint  reddish  tint  showing  in  moustache  and  hair, 
and  with  quick,  eager  eyes,  he  seemed  properly 
placed  in  the  splendid  room  at  77  Wilhelmstrasse 
looking  out  upon  the  great  trees  of  the  garden  be- 
hind,— the  room  often  paced  by  the  Iron  Chancellor 
Bismarck,  who  for  so  many  years  occupied  this  of- 
ficial residence.  No,  here  was  a  man  in  the  prime 
of  life  (he  was  born  in  1879)  a  factor  in  interna- 
tional politics  that  would  have  to  be  counted  with 
for  some  while  to  come.  It  is  significant  of  the 
changed  times  that  Chancellor  Wirth  is  not  Prus- 
sian, but  comes  from  south  Germany,  having  been 
born  in  Baden. 

My  interview  with  the  Prime  Minister  was  fixed 
for  one  o'clock  in  the  day.  On  calling  at  that  hour 
I  was  received  at  77  Wilhelmstrasse  by  Haniel  von 
Haimhausen  with  the  remark : 

"You  are  doubtless  surprised  to  see  me  here,  after 
leaving  me  earlier  this  morning  at  the  Foreign  Of- 
fice, but  it  is  an  old  rule  of  the  Empu'e,  carried  over 

[99] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  observed  by  the  Republic,  that  the  Chancellor 
may  not  talk  with  a  foreigner  unless  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Foreign  Office  be  present." 

At  the  time  of  our  interview  Wirth,  as  head  of  a 
newly  formed  Cabinet,  was  of  course  chiefly  con- 
cerned in  gathering  new  elements  of  strength,  for 
it  was  then  generally  believed  that  his  continuance 
in  power  would  depend  upon  obtaining  aid  from  the 
powerful  parliamentary  bloc  called  the  Deutsches 
Volks  Partei,  representing  what  we  would  call  "big 
business."  For  that  reason  he  was  interested  to 
hear  how  chambers  of  commerce  in  the  United 
States  were  beginning  to  study  governmental  poli- 
cies, and  how  those  groupings  of  the  best  trained 
business  brains  in  each  community  were  answering 
President  Harding's  summons  to  participate  in 
politics ;  "more  business  in  government  and  less  gov- 
ernment in  business." 

When  I  returned  to  Paris  a  few  days  later  and 
told  my  French  friends  of  the  impression  made  on 
me  by  the  German  Chancellor,  they  were  first 
amused  and  then  incredulous,  but  as  the  weeks  went 
on,  and  he  skilfully  weathered  one  parliamentary 
storm  after  another,  a  study  of  his  past  revealed 
many  reasons  for  his  present  success.  As  a  stu- 
[100] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

dent,  and  later  as  a  professor  of  economics  and 
mathematics  at  Freiburg  Realgymnasium,  he  laid 
a  sound  basis  fitting  him  excellently  to  hold  the 
portfolio  of  Finance  first  in  Mueller's  Cabinet,  then 
in  Fehrenbach's,  and  lastly  in  his  own.  He  is  a 
convincing  public  speaker,  not  only  in  parliamen- 
tary debate  but  also  on  the  hustings. 

He  is  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  follower  of  Erz- 
berger,  and  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  Germany  possess  more  of  an  interna- 
tional point  of  view  than  do  the  Protestants.  Mem- 
bership in  the  former  church  carries  with  it  a  recog- 
nition that  there  exist  abroad  other  units  of  the 
same  order,  and  this  makes  for  a  broader  outlook 
than  that  of  most  German  Lutherans. 

I  spent  some  weeks  in  1914,  just  preceding  the 
war's  outbreak  travelling  about  Germany  collecting 
notes  for  a  proposed  book  on  their  ancient  stained 
glass,  and  as  an  American  Protestant  was  surprised 
to  find  that  the  Lutheran  churches  were  almost  al- 
ways locked  and  therefore  gave  no  opportunity  for 
meditation  in  the  house  of  God  which  most  Amer- 
ican churches  invite.  Even  when  open  for  service 
the  Lutheran  churches  (mostly  in  north  Germany), 
seem  to  attract  but  small  attendance. 

[101] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

The  number  of  churches  I  visited  on  my  quest 
was  of  course  considerable,  so  I  was  left  with  an 
unfavourable  impression  of  Protestant  vigour  in 
Germany.  Just  after  the  war  I  spent  some  months 
in  Japan,  and  its  thronged  temples  and  pilgrimage 
shrines  caused  one  to  wonder  if  a  religion  so  woven 
into  the  daily  life  of  the  people,  making  for  fre- 
quent reflection  upon  things  spiritual  rather  than 
upon  those  material,  is  not  finer  than  a  religion  of 
locked  sanctuaries  during  the  week  and  sparse  con- 
gregations on  Sundays. 

And  later  when  I  visited  Louvain  and  Rheims, 
and  also  saw  the  hacked  fruit  trees  of  France's 
devastated  regions  and  the  almost  obliterated  sites 
of  her  carefully  destroyed  factories,  again  I  com- 
pared the  Japanese  thronging  of  sacred  places  with 
the  locked  Protestant  temples  of  Germany !  Japan, 
like  Germany,  fosters  a  dangerous  military  party, 
but  Japan's  religious  antidote  seems  more  active. 

Chancellor  Wirth  has  been  fated  more  than  once 
to  find  himself  in  positions  requiring  quick  think- 
ing and  even  quicker  action.  After  the  revolution 
broke  out  in  Berlin,  he  started  home  for  Baden. 
He  stopped  on  the  way  at  Carlsruhe  and  to  inform 
[102] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

himself  on  matters  at  home  telephoned  on  to  a 
friend  to  ask  how  things  were  going. 

"You  ought  to  know  better  than  I,  because  yes- 
terday you  were  appointed  Finance  Minister  of 
Baden!" 

This  was  the  first  Wirth  had  heard  of  his  ap- 
pointment, but  be  tackled  the  job  and  succeeded 
with  it.  In  the  same  abrupt  and  unsought  fashion 
came  his  selection  as  German  Chancellor.  Whether 
he  continues  long  in  power  or  after  awhile  is  super- 
seded, at  least  it  must  be  said  that  in  a  great  na- 
tional crisis,  Germany  produced  a  man  of  courage 
and  preparation  who  carried  faithfully  into  effect 
the  announcement  made  on  taking  office  that  he 
would  carry  out  in  full  what  Germany  had  signed. 
The  sooner  Germans  realise  that,  for  the  outside 
world,  these  words  benefited  their  credit  more  than 
any  others  spoken  in  Germany  since  July,  1914,  the 
quicker  will  their  national  psychology  get  back  into 
step  with  the  rest  of  us. 

Dr.  Friederich  Rosen,  lately  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs,  taken  from  the  German  Legation  at 
the  Hague  to  fill  that  post,  and  long  trained  in  di- 
plomacy at  Bagdad,  Jerusalem,  Abyssinia,  Alge- 
ciras,   Teheran,   etc.,  typified   the  use  which  the 

[103] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

new  German  republic  wisely  made  of  trained  men; 
it  did  not,  like  some  new  republics,  discard  every- 
thing of  an  older  regime  as  untimely.  With  no 
trace  of  accent  in  his  English  but  speaking  like  a 
Londoner,  this  German  expert  in  Oriental  lan- 
guages talked  not  as  I  expected  of  international  af- 
fairs so  much  as  of  the  domestic  need  of  rallying  to 
the  new  government  the  support  of  new  elements 
of  political  strength.  Even  more  than  Wirth,  did 
Rosen  seem  interested  in  gaining  the  support  of  the 
great  commercial  interests.  His  remarks  on  for- 
eign affairs  were  chiefly  to  the  effect  that  if  the 
Allies  made  things  so  difficult  that  home  support 
could  not  sustain  this  government,  then  the  pres- 
ent one  would  be  succeeded  by  another  even  less 
capable  of  carrying  out  the  terms  imposed  in  Lon- 
don. 

Neither  from  him  nor  from  any  other  well- 
informed  German  does  one  hear  any  hint  of  Bol- 
shevism overrunning  Germany.  That  nonsense  is 
reserved  for  certain  yellow  journals  and  their  credu- 
lous readers.  Germans  are  too  well  educated  to  be 
led  away  by  the  economic  sophistry  of  men  like 
Lenin  and  Trotzky.  The  Prussian  military  group 
used  bolshevism  as  a  war-weapon  to  overwhelm  il- 
[104] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

literate  Russia,  and  it  succeeded  beyond  their  fond- 
est hopes,  but  in  Germany  such  a  propaganda 
would  wither  up.  They  know  it,  and  do  not  waste 
their  own  time  nor  that  of  foreigners  of  average 
intelligence  by  trying  to  make  that  ghost  walk ! 

Before  leaving  Rosen  it  may  be  remarked  that 
he  was  included  in  the  first  Wirth  cabinet  because 
he  incarnated  the  old  State  craft  of  the  German 
Foreign  Office,  and  Chancellor  Wirth  considered 
that  necessary  for  the  functioning  of  the  new  Re- 
public. When  the  Wirth  cabinet  was  recon- 
structed Rosen  was  dropped  and  the  Chancellor 
himself  took  the  Portfolio  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
This  means  that  Dr.  Wirth  came  to  feel  that  the 
Republic  could  stand  alone  and  no  longer  needed 
the  old  Wilhelmstrasse  traditions. 

The  Roman  Catholic  is  not  the  only  faith  that 
makes  for  an  international  mind.  So  does  that  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  strength  of  their  faith  has  suf- 
fered the  advantage  (if  one  may  venture  an  Irish 
bull)  of  centuries  of  persecution.  The  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church,  and  of  no  faith 
is  that  truer  than  of  the  Jewish,  and  especially  in 
their  grasp  upon  matters  international.  The  new 
German  republic  recognises  this  fact,  and  chief 

[105] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

among  the  Jews  now  aiding  it  is  Max  Warburg, 
head  of  a  banking  house  that  has  existed  123  years 
in  Hamburg.  He  maintains  intimate  relations  with 
his  brother  Paul  Warburg  of  New  York,  to  whom 
American  banking  owes  so  much  of  the  early  suc- 
cess and  functioning  of  our  Federal  Reserve  sys- 
tem, and  who  is  now  rendering  almost  as  great  a 
national  service  in  founding  our  first  bank  exclu- 
sively for  acceptances. 

Max  Warburg,  thanks  to  his  blue-grey  eyes,  has 
a  gentler  expression  than  Paul's  piercing  black  ones 
will  permit,  but  the  same  trained  banker's  brain  hes 
behind  both.  Nor  is  the  present  German  crisis  the 
first  one  that  Max  Warburg's  Hamburg  firm  has 
helped  its  government  to  meet.  It  is  told  that 
when  Napoleon  wished  to  ensure  the  payment  of 
an  indemnity  fixed  by  him  upon  Hamburg,  he 
seized  a  member  of  the  Warburg  firm  of  that  day. 
The  other  members,  more  interested  in  their  city 
than  their  family,  sent  the  conqueror  word  to  please 
retain  their  partner  as  long  as  he  liked,  for  they 
were  glad  to  be  rid  of  him,  anyway! 

Max  Warburg  has  been  one  of  the  most  inde- 
fatigable of  Germany's  bankers  in  his  efforts  to  as- 
sist in  its  difficult  task  of  obtaining  the  cash  needed 
[106] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

for  the  heavy  payments  fixed  by  the  Allies.  He 
seeks  neither  political  preferment  nor  reward,  but, 
although  he  protests  he  has  no  influence  in  govern- 
mental circles,  one  is  not  long  in  Berlin  before 
learning  that  his  counsel  is  sought  and  relied  upon 
in  the  Wilhelmstrasse. 

Money  making  is  not  the  only  idea  of  this  un- 
usual banker,  for  when  the  old  Russian  govern- 
ment showed  its  unwillingness  or  inability  to  check 
the  Jewish  pogroms,  he  deliberately  resigned  as 
fiscal  agent  for  Russia,  though  that  meant  losing 
millions  in  agency  commissions.  The  Soviet  gov- 
ernment of  that  country  not  only  recognises  the 
Jews  but  is  largely  in  their  hands,  so  he  is  one  of 
many  Germans  now  advocating  closer  business  re- 
lations with  Russia  and  aid  in  the  reconstruction 
of  that  hideously  plagued  land. 

But  that  way  lies  the  danger  for  southern  and 
western  Europe — a  combination  between  the  un- 
limited agricultural  possibilities  and  huge  popula- 
tion of  Russia  with  the  industry  and  organising 
ability  of  Germany.  Germans  insist  that  France 
is  forcing  on  this  combination  by  giving  German 
teri'itory  in  the  northeast  and  in  Upper  Silesia  to 
an  unstable  Poland,  already  over  enlarged  by  a 

[107] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

piece  torn  from  Russia's  side.  But  good  or  bad  as 
that  argument  may  be,  there  we  have  the  danger  to 
the  peace  of  Europe — a  combination  of  German 
energy  with  the  Russian  resources  and  man-power. 
As  an  American  interested  in  Pohsh  independence, 
it  is  unpleasant  to  record  that  nowhere  in  Europe 
outside  of  France  does  one  find  any  behef  in  the 
continuance  as  a  separate  state  of  the  new  Poland. 

And  now  for  the  fifth  and  last  personality  of  the 
group  we  have  selected  to  personify  the  new  post- 
war Germany,  Walther  Rathenau.  Son  of  an  in- 
fluential father  of  the  same  name,  his  predecessor 
as  head  of  the  Allgemeine  Elektricitats  Gesellschaft 
(an  economic  colossus  resembling  our  General 
Electric  Company),  this  business  magnate  of  fifty- 
four,  a  well  known  writer  on  public  topics,  decided 
at  last  to  enter  "practical  politics,"  and  at  6.15 
p.  M.,  May  28,  1921,  accepted  a  Cabinet  position  as 
Minister  of  Reconstruction  under  Chancellor 
Wirth. 

I  have  no  difficulty  in  remembering  that  date  be- 
cause by  a  freak  of  fate  I  spent  with  him,  upon 
his  invitation,  the  last  half  hour  before  he  drove  to 
the  Ministry  of  Justice  to  report  acceptance  of  gov- 
ernmental responsibility.  Grave,  practical,  hard- 
[108] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

headed  he  certainly  was,  but  withal  courteous- 
minded,  not  only  in  discussing  Germany's  position 
with  a  foreigner  who  had  not  viewed  the  war's 
causes  from  his  angle,  but  thoughtful  even  of  future 
associates  and  their  possible  divergence  of  views, 
for  he  qualified  his  positive  statements  by  "please 
remember  I  am  speaking  as  of  Saturday  afternoon 
while  still  a  private  individual,  and  not  as  of  to- 
morrow, when,  as  an  official,  my  views  must  be  af- 
fected by  the  majority  opinion  of  the  Cabinet  I  am 
entering." 

Most  explicit  was  his  insistence  that  this  Cabinet 
be  regarded  abroad  as  one  devoted  to  complete  ful- 
filment of  the  terms  signed  and  accepted  by  Ger- 
many in  London  on  May  5th.  Proud  of  his 
father's  good  name,  known  as  well  in  America  as 
at  home  for  strict  compliance  with  the  contracted 
word,  he  believed,  said  he,  in  as  scrupulous  perform- 
ance of  government  agreements  as  is  required  in 
the  higher  business  circles  where  his  father  and  he 
had  gained  their  training.  From  the  same  school- 
ing came  both  his  impatience  of  official  red  tape, 
and  also  that  love  of  direct  dealing,  man  to  man 
and  face  to  face,  soon  to  be  evidenced  in  his  Wies- 

[109] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

baden  meetings  with  Loucheur,  the  French  Minis- 
ter hkewise  concerned  with  reconstruction. 

Later,  when  reading  his  remarkable  book,  "In 
Days  to  Come,"  dedicated  "To  my  Father's  Mem- 
ory" and  which  "treats  of  material  things,  but  treats 
of  them  for  the  sake  of  the  spirit,"  much  became 
clear  which  in  an  interview  of  less  than  an  hour  had 
seemed  incredibly  progressive  when  spoken  by  a 
conservative  business  man  of  such  weighty  com- 
mercial responsibilities  as  he  had  borne. 

Rathenau  believes  that  work  is  "life's  finest  privi- 
lege," and  that  "whoever  squanders  labour,  labour- 
time,  or  the  means  of  labour,  is  robbing  the  com- 
munity." Although  so  earnest  in  his  desire  to  spir- 
itualise the  conditions  surrounding  labour  and  ex- 
pand labour's  opportunities  as  sometimes  to  be 
dubbed  a  socialist,  he  does  not  believe  in  socialism 
for,  says  he,  it  "leads  from  the  earth  to  the  earth, 
its  most  intimate  faith  is  revolt,  its  strongest  force 
is  a  common  sentiment  of  hatred,  and  its  ultimate 
hope  is  earthly  well-being," — it  "has  never  got  be- 
yond the  search  for  immediate  relief,"  instead  of 
hitching  its  wagon  to  the  star  of  ultimately  wider 
improvement  of  social  conditions. 

The  newspaper-reading  public  everywhere 
[110] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

rubbed  its  eyes  with  sui-prise  the  morning  it  read 
that  the  new  German  Minister  of  Reconstruction 
began  his  maiden  speech  in  the  Reichstag  by  re- 
citing France's  war  losses  in  men,  in  money,  and 
in  destroyed  homes  over  her  entire  northeastern 
border!  And  yet  they  need  not  have  been  so  sur- 
prised by  those  manly  admissions  had  they  noticed 
in  his  writings  such  statements  as  "Prussia  has  not 
since  the  death  of  Frederick  the  Great  produced  a 
single  statesman  of  European  proportions,"  or  "a 
grave  defect  is  that  we  are  not  free  from  the  spirit 
of  servility  towards  superiors  and  haughtiness 
towards  inferiors." 

After  years  of  hearing  ceaseless  repetition  of 
Deutschland's  claim  to  be  "iiber  Alles,"  there  come 
like  fresh  air  from  the  uplands  his  words,  "I  do  not 
believe  in  our  right  to  guide  the  destinies  of  the 
world.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  any  other  nation  pos- 
sesses such  a  right.  We  have  no  right  to  decide  the 
destinies  of  the  world,  for  we  have  not  learned  to 
guide  our  own  destinies.  We  have  no  right  to 
force  our  modes  of  thought  and  feeling  upon  other 
civilised  nations." 

And  this  is  from  a  practical  man,  who  although 
he  believes  in  monarchical  government,  conditions 

[111] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

this  upon  constant  effort  by  the  monarch  to  conduct 
"a  people's  state,"  the  demand  for  which  in  Ger- 
many he  asserts  to  be  "timely  and  inevitable." 

"No  one,"  says  he,  "can  be  a  statesman  unless  he 
bears  or  has  borne  creative  responsibility" — and  to 
this  it  is  fair  for  an  American  to  reply  that  such  a 
man  is  Rathenau  himself.  He  has  turned  from 
great  commercial  affairs  and  has  put  his  hand  to  the 
political  plough.  Perhaps  he  may  not  remain  long 
in  this  Cabinet — certainly  he  will  withdraw  if  it  wa- 
vers from  its  pledge  completely  to  fulfil  Germany's 
May  5th  agreement  with  the  Allies.  But  in  any 
event  it  seems  safe  to  predict  that  either  as  head  of 
some  Cabinet  department  or  later  of  the  Cabinet 
itself,  he  will  continue  to  devote  his  trained  mind 
and  ideals  to  the  service  of  "a  people's  state"  in 
Germany.  To  any  one  who  has  been  privileged  to 
meet  all  the  leading  Ministers  of  Europe  during 
that  trying  reconstructive  period  known  as  A.  D. 
1921,  there  will  be  no  doubt  that  Walther  Rathenau 
belongs  in  the  same  class  with  Lloyd  George, 
Briand,  and  Venizelos  to  which,  by  the  way,  we 
have  seen  that  Lloyd  George  would  add  Giolitti. 

Those  who  have  Germany's  future  most  at  heart, 
as  well  as  those  who  loathe  the  brutal  scars  of  Prus- 
[112] 


MAKERS  OF  THE  GERMAN  REPUBLIC 

sian  militarism  left  on  Belgium  and  northeastern 
France  may  both  find  satisfaction  in  a  considera- 
tion of  this  group  of  five  powerful  human  factors  in 
the  Germany  of  1921.  Taken  together  they  spell 
out  a  nationality  very  different  from  the  group 
around  the  Kaiser  in  the  days  when  it  cheered  the 
rattle  of  his  sabre  and  beckoned  on  "Der  Tag"  that 
was  going  to  make  the  Kultur  of  one  country  lord 
it  over  all  others.  From  the  body  politic  of  the 
same  nation  that  blossomed  in  the  Kaiser's  clique, 
there  has  come  forth  a  new  type,  just  as  resolute  in 
purpose  and  certainly  just  as  German,  but  now  at 
last  we  see  leaders  willing  and  able  to  consider  the 
viewpoint  of  other  nations,  a  vast  change  from  the 
ingrowing  Prussian  psychology  that  produced  a  na- 
tional megalomania,  inciting  to  war  and  foredoomed 
to  defeat. 


[113] 


CHAPTER  IV:  THE  LOW  COUNTRIES 
AND  THEIR  COLONIES 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  THEIR  COLONIES 

CARTON  DE  WIART,  the  Belgian  Prime 
Minister,  and  Jonkheer  H.  A.  van  Karne- 
beek,  the  Dutch  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  have 
both  recently  attained  international  significance 
after  years  of  well  appreciated  service  in  their  re- 
spective homelands.  These  two  citizens  of  the  Low 
Countries  afford  as  interesting  contrasts  as  do  Bel- 
gium and  Holland,  for  the  Belgian  (a  fine,  large, 
upstanding  man)  is  sturdier  than  is  usual  with  the 
French  type  so  largely  represented  in  Belgium, 
while  the  Hollander  (slender  and  of  medium 
stature)  is  built  on  finer  lines  than  one  expects  to 
see  in  his  country. 

Carton  de  Wiart  sprang  into  international  fame 
when  it  became  known  to  the  outside  world  that 
his  hand  penned  the  first  draft  of  gallant  King  Al- 
bert's refusal  of  the  insolent  German  ultimatum 
that  their  armies  be  permitted  to  march  across  Bel- 
gium and  attack  France  upon  her  northeasterly 

[117] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

frontier  left  defenceless  by  her  reliance  upon  the 
sacred  obligation  of  a  signed  treaty. 

As  for  Jonkheer  van  Karnebeek,  it  was  in  Sep- 
tember, 1921,  that  he  fii'st  attracted  the  world's  no- 
tice by  his  selection  as  President  of  the  League  of 
Nations  Congress  at  Geneva,  which  selection  he  so 
amply  justified  by  his  fair,  tactful,  and  able 
handling  of  that  difficult  task.  The  international 
prestige  thus  gained  by  these  two  Lowlanders  is 
not  in  the  case  of  either  of  them  a  plant  of  sudden 
growth,  for  we  shall  presently  see  how  long  years 
of  political  service  at  home  fashioned  them  both  into 
blades  of  tempered  steel,  fit  for  any  combat  at  home 
or  abroad.  Van  Karnebeek,  now  a  man  of  ripe 
middle  age,  was  never  keenly  partisan  in  politics, 
but  won  recognition  by  his  successful  administra- 
tion of  the  trying  duties  of  Burgomaster  of  the 
Hague,  that  neatest  and  cosiest  of  European  cap- 
itals. 

The  Dutch  Foreign  Office  is  a  substantial  build- 
ing of  modest  size  on  one  side  of  the  small  and  busy 
square  called  the  Plein,  the  city's  heart,  from  which 
lead  out  and  back  again  its  arteries  of  tram  lines. 
This  Foreign  Office  looks  more  like  an  ample  pri- 
vate dwelling  than  any  of  its  European  prototypes, 
[118] 


^.  (/^  ^T^^^^^^v*;^ 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

and  the  Minister's  private  room  at  the  back  looks 
out  upon  a  small  courtyard,  just  as  any  lover  of 
de  Hoogh's  or  Teniers'  pictures  of  Dutch  domestic 
life  would  expect.  The  neat  simplicity  of  the  Min- 
ister's office,  too,  is  typically  Dutch,  and  so  is  the 
simple  directness  of  his  speech.  Although  his  prep- 
aration for  the  portfolio  of  Foreign  Affairs  would 
seem  to  have  been  gained  mostly  in  municipal  af- 
fairs, it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  many  of  the 
Hague  streets  are  named  after  distant  colonial  pos- 
sessions, and  that  its  sturdy  stay-at-home  citizens 
invest  constantly  in  those  colonies  more  readily  and 
amply  than  do  their  peers  in  other  nations:  this 
means  constant  touch  by  the  municipality  with  the 
outside  world  and  a  demand  for  its  latest  news, 
especially  if  that  news  touches  commercial  inter- 
ests. Furthermore,  van  Karnebeek  comes  right- 
fully by  his  interest  in  and  knowledge  of  foreign 
affairs,  for  his  delightful  old  father,  now  94  years 
of  age,  was  once  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  and 
is  still  active  as  President  of  the  Carnegie  Peace 
Palace,  the  noble  central  home  for  international 
good  understanding  presented  to  the  world  by  An- 
drew Carnegie — that  American  of  surpassing  vi- 
sion. 

[121] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Just  as  the  Dutch  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
learned  well  the  lessons  of  the  nest  before  trying 
his  wings  in  affairs  international,  so,  too,  did  the 
Belgian  Prime  Minister.  From  his  earhest  days  in 
politics  Carton  de  Wiart's  chief  interests  have  al- 
ways been  along  lines  of  improving  social  conditions 
at  home,  notably  by  extending  the  suffrage  to 
women  and  by  government  protection  of  and  aid 
to  children.  He  has  always  urged  that  the  weaker 
elements  in  the  body  politic  deserve  the  chief  atten- 
tion and  support  of  government,  for  the  stronger 
ones  can  take  care  of  themselves.  It  was  he  who 
upon  the  advice  of  his  charming  wife  (most  indus- 
trious in  good  works)  introduced  Children's  Courts 
into  Belgium,  for  she  had  studied  their  success  in 
separating  the  childish  offenders  of  New  York  from 
the  hardened  criminals  gathered  into  its  criminal 
courts. 

Carton  de  Wiart's  conmianding  figure  and  im- 
pressive carriage  typify  both  the  resolute  war  rec- 
ord of  valiant  Belgium  and  also  his  own  espousal 
of  equal  political  rights  for  women  and  protection 
of  children.  I  had  the  honour  of  lunching  with  him 
in  his  Ministry  during  August,  1921,  and  it  was  at 
this  luncheon  that  the  very  first  Belgian  woman  to 
[122] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

be  appointed  Mayoress,  a  gentlewoman  84  years 
old,  had  her  selection  confirmed  by  the  Prime  Min- 
ister. That  this  act  should  fall  to  the  lot  of  so 
valiant  a  champion  of  equality  for  women  before 
the  law  struck  me  as  most  appropriate.  It  is  also 
appropriate  that  as  Prime  Minister  of  a  country  so 
deeply  concerned  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  rav- 
ages of  war,  he  should  hold  the  portfolio  of  Min- 
ister of  the  Interior. 

He  and  almost  all  his  cabinet  colleagues  are 
housed  in  a  series  of  substantial  Ministries  which 
flank  the  Palais  de  la  Nation  (housing  the  Senate 
and  Chamber  of  Deputies)  and  run  along  one  side 
of  the  rue  de  la  Loi  and  face  the  Park.  They 
afford  as  handsome  and  complete  a  series  of  struc- 
tures as  are  used  for  this  purpose  anywhere  in 
Europe,  but  are  much  more  uniform.  Only  on  the 
Wilhelmstrasse  in  Berlin  does  one  find  such  a  use- 
ful propinquity  of  Cabinet  ministries,  and  even 
there  they  stretch  along  both  sides  of  the  street, 
nor  are  they  so  uniform,  so  effective  in  appearance 
nor  so  adequate  for  their  purpose  as  are  those  in 
Brussels. 

Both  Carton  de  Wiart  and  van  Karnebeek  have 
able  colleagues,  the  latter  in  his  Prime  Minister 

[123] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Ruys  de  Beerenbrouk,  and  the  former  in  Jaspar, 
the  Belgian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  It  is 
said  of  Jaspar,  and  that,  too,  in  many  European 
capitals,  that  during  all  the  negotiations  at  Ver- 
sailles, and  also  throughout  the  long  series  that  have 
followed  that  match-making  of  minds,  no  statesman 
has  proved  himself  so  usefully  fertile  of  proper  ex- 
pedients to  permit  dislocated  international  ma- 
chinery to  resume  its  operations.  There  is  no 
greater  compliment  than  to  say  that  a  man  has  a 
brain  that  can  help  others  out  of  trouble,  and  Jas- 
par has  time  and  again  earned  that  compliment  to 
the  full. 

Van  Karnebeek's  colleague,  Jonkheer  Ch.  J.  M. 
Ruys  de  Beerenbrouk  was  born  in  Roermond,  De- 
cember 1,  1873,  educated  as  a  lawyer  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
party.  After  practising  law  at  Maastricht,  he  be- 
came a  member  of  its  City  Council  and  later  Gov- 
ernor of  the  province  of  Limburg.  He  and  van 
Karnebeek  both  took  office  the  same  day,  Septem- 
ber 9,  1918,  just  as  the  war  waL  drawing  to  a  close 
and  therefore  when  new  difficulties  were  being 
added  to  the  burden  of  old  ones  already  harassing 
the  government  of  Holland.  They  "played  safe" 
[124] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

for  a  few  months,  and  thereby  gained  a  reputation 
for  weakness,  especially  when  the  Allies  began 
clamouring  for  the  Kaiser  to  be  delivered  over  to 
them,  and  when  Belgium  urged  the  cession  to  her 
of  the  province  of  Limburg  to  "rectify"  her  fron- 
tier. 

Suddenly  the  entire  situation  was  changed  and 
the  Government  saved  by  van  Karnebeek's  making 
a  strong  speech  in  the  Dutch  Parliament  definitely 
refusing  to  give  up  Limburg.  The  entire  country 
rallied  to  the  Cabinet's  support,  and  then  van  Kar- 
nebeek  took  another  definite  stand,  this  time  by  re- 
fusing to  surrender  the  Kaiser,  basing  his  refusal 
on  carefully  studied  legal  grounds.  This  not  only 
met  with  wide  domestic  approval  but  also  gained 
him  and  his  Cabinet  colleagues  respect  abroad. 
Since  then  there  has  been  little  serious  trouble  for 
the  Cabinet  until  the  summer  of  1921,  but  when  de 
Beerenbrouk  then  offered  his  resignation,  he  was 
requested  again  to  head  the  government,  which  he 
consented  to  do. 

Few  Americans  realise  that  the  two  small  coun- 
tries of  Belgium  and  Holland  have  both  of  them 
large  colonial  possessions,  and  also  that  their  colo- 
nial policies  afford  as  striking  a  contrast  as  do  their 

[125] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

statesmen  whom  we  have  just  been  considering.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Dutch  were  among  the  earhest 
of  colonisers,  for  their  holdings  in  the  East  Indies 
date  from  1602.  For  nearly  two  centuries  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  managed  those  far- 
away islands,  but  in  1798  the  Company  was  dis- 
solved, the  home  government  took  over  their  pos- 
sessions and  have  ever  since  then  been  in  supreme 
control  of  their  colonies.  As  opposed  to  this  an- 
cient colonial  system  of  the  Dutch,  the  Belgians  are 
the  latest  of  all  the  powers  to  enter  the  colonial 
field. 

While  lunching  with  the  Belgian  Prime  Minister 
Carton  de  Wiart  in  August,  1921,  he  told  me  the 
whole  fascinating  story  of  how  the  late  King  Leo- 
pold came  to  have  the  vision  that  interest  in  foreign 
possessions  would  broaden  the  outlook  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  of  how  he  led  them  on  step  by  step  to  the 
realisation  of  his  dream  for  them.  His  efforts 
began  early  in  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  the  Belgians,  responding  to  his  enthusi- 
asm, so  increased  their  interest  and  influence  in 
the  Congo  region  of  Africa  that  in  1908  took  place 
the  official  annexation  of  the  district,  a  step  which 
for  some  years  theretofore  had  been  obvious.  Dur- 
[126] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

ing  the  early  years  of  the  Belgian  occupation  of  the 
Congo,  a  number  of  abuses  crept  in,  but  those  have 
been  long  since  abolished.  It  is  only  fair  to  com- 
ment that  at  the  beginning  of  colonial  government 
by  any  and  all  of  the  European  powers  there  were 
serious  abuses  prevalent  which  required  correction. 
Unfortunately  for  the  Belgians,  the  childish  dis- 
eases of  their  colonial  development  received  un- 
pleasant notoriety  because  they  occurred  at  the  end 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  better  equipped  with 
newspapers  and  cable  news  than  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  when  their  stronger  Euro- 
pean neighbours  suffered  from  similar  "growing 
pains." 

And  now  for  some  facts  about  these  colonies  of 
the  two  Low  Countries.  Each  of  these  two  king- 
doms, with  a  small  home  population  of  only  about 
7,000,000  have  very  restricted  territory  along  the 
shores  of  the  North  Sea,  and  both  are  hemmed  in 
by  powerful  neighbours  rendering  futile  any  hope 
of  continental  expansion.  Everybody  knows  how 
vastly  larger  are  the  British  colonial  possessions 
than  are  the  British  Isles,  but  very  few  of  us  real- 
ise that  the  Belgian  Congo  is  eighty  times  the  size 
of  Belgium,  or  that  the  Dutch  East  Indies  are  six- 

[127] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ty-five  times  larger  than  Holland.  Equally  sur- 
prising are  the  huge  populations  of  those  distant 
colonies.  In  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  Dutch  have 
47,000,000  subjects,  all  living  near  the  equator,  and 
if  one  follows  that  line  around  to  the  other  side  of 
the  world  he  will  come  to  the  Belgian  Congo  with 
15,000,000  African  blacks  living  under  Belgian 
rule.  It  is  significant  that  neither  Holland  nor 
Belgimii  require  either  powerful  navies  or  great 
armies  to  keep  those  millions  under  control,  which 
would  seem  to  indicate  fair  treatment  of  their  sub- 
ject peoples. 

White  rule  of  the  vast  Belgian  Congo,  a  district 
stretching  all  the  way  from  mighty  Lake  Tan- 
ganyika in  the  heart  of  Africa  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  began  under  favourable  auspices,  for  the 
pioneer  was  no  slave  trader  or  other  exploiter  for 
gain  of  savages'  suffering — it  was  Stanley,  a  white 
man  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  It  was  his  lead 
that  the  Belgians  followed.  After  the  initial  ex- 
periences of  unsatisfactory  character  to  which  we 
have  referred,  reforms  were  demanded  and  reforms 
came,  but  the  most  promising  fact  connected  with 
those  reforms  was  that  the  then  heir  apparent,  now 
King  Albert,  Belgium's  splendid  war  hero,  trav- 
[128] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

elled  from  one  side  of  the  vast  Congo  world  to  the 
other — thereby  acquiring  a  personal  and  wide 
knowledge  of  its  problems  which  especially  equips 
him  to  command  the  development  of  his  nation's 
colonial  policy. 

The  Congo  Museum,  just  outside  Brussels,  is 
an  amazingly  complete  exhibit  of  products  of  all 
the  different  districts  of  the  colony,  of  native  life, 
of  navigation  of  the  magnificent  rivers  which  facili- 
tate transportation  throughout, — all  is  there.  But 
it  is  rapidly  becoming  a  Museum  of  yesterday,  and 
tells  of  a  passing  epoch.  It  does  not  show  clearly 
enough  that  large  sections  of  the  Congo  upland 
are  a  white  man's  country,  and  that  its  develop- 
ment as  such  promises  best  for  its  natives  and  for 
its  owners  alike.  Already,  as  a  result  of  contact 
with  white  civilisation,  the  huts  of  the  blacks  are 
becoming  improved  dwellings,  and  thus  are  ren- 
dering obsolete  the  extensive  display  of  hut  life 
in  the  Brussels  Museum.  One  sees  nothing  there 
to  tell  that  every  part  of  the  Belgian  Congo,  a 
tract  as  large  as  all  Europe  excluding  the  Hispanic 
peninsula,  is  so  connected  by  wireless  stations  that 
a  message  sent  from  Belgium  reaches  the  heart  of 
the  Dark  Continent  next  day.     It  is  the  to-day  and 

[129] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

the  to-morrow  of  their  Congo  that  the  Belgians 
ought  to  advertise  to  the  world,  not  the  passing 
scenes  of  yesterday.  Even  on  Lake  Tanganyika 
hydroplanes  have  become  a  familiar  sight  to  the  na- 
tives, who  call  them  the  males  and  females  of  the 
white  man's  Wonder  Bird.  One  of  their  chiefs, 
when  asked  to  tell  how  he  could  distinguish  their 
sex,  replied,  "Watch  them  when  they  are  alighting: 
the  male  is  the  bolder,  and  always  goes  first  to  se- 
lect a  landing  place  for  the  female." 

Vastly  more  important  than  the  introduction  of 
airplanes  and  wireless  telegraphy  into  Darkest 
Africa,  is  Belgium's  suppression  of  the  slave  trade 
and  reduction  of  infant  mortality.  Instead  of  at- 
tempting to  force  upon  the  natives  some  new- 
fangled system  of  government,  bewildering  even 
if  bettering  them,  they  are  seeking  to  improve  the 
long  existing  tribal  government  by  chiefs.  To  that 
end  they  have  established  a  school  where  the  sons 
of  the  Congo  chiefs  are  taught  practical  methods 
of  improving  the  living  conditions  of  the  tribes  they 
will  one  day  rule.  The  Belgians  even  recognise 
and  support  certain  chieftainesses,  and  they  did  this 
before  the  recent  advance  in  women's  political  rights 
throughout  Belgium,  in  which  latter  cause  Carton 
[130] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

de  Wiart  laboured  so  stoutly.  For  this  reason  it 
is  particularly  appropriate  that  he  should  have  be- 
come the  presiding  genius  in  a  Cabinet  controlhng 
the  destinies  of  15,000,000  African  blacks,  with 
all  that  means  of  opportunity  to  benefit  weak  and 
helpless  humanity  in  the  Dark  Continent. 

Handsome  dividends  have  recently  rewarded 
Belgium  for  her  improved  colonial  policy  in  the 
Congo.  When  the  war  ended  and  she  was  con- 
fronted with  an  immediate  need  of  raw  products 
and  material  to  reconstruct  her  sadly  devastated 
homeland,  she  drew  upon  her  great  self-supporting 
colony,  and  these  drafts  were  honoured  in  shipload 
after  shipload  of  Congo  products.  Even  greater 
rewards  lie  ahead  in  the  iron  mines  of  Katanga  and 
its  hundreds  of  highly  mineralised  copper  deposits, 
the  diamond  mines  of  Kasai,  the  coal  veins  near 
Lake  Tanganyika,  and  best  of  all,  in  the  great  roll- 
ing upland  plains  destined  for  enormous  agricul- 
tural development. 

In  the  development  of  the  Congo  the  Belgians 
welcome  foreign  co-operation  and  investment.  In 
this  field  certain  Americans  have  already  taken  the 
initiative,  and  for  other  Americans  who  will  follow 
their  lead  great  opportunities  are  opened. 

[131] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

This  Belgian  policy  of  welcoming  foreign  co-op- 
eration in  the  development  and  exploitation  of  their 
colonies  differs  widely  from  the  Dutch  policy  in 
regard  to  theirs.  The  Hollanders,  to  quote  the 
blunt  words  of  one  of  their  colonial  magnates,  "pre- 
fer to  milk  their  own  cows."  Of  course  it  is  no- 
body's business  but  their  own  if  they  decide  to  ex- 
clude foreign  capital  from  all  countries  alike,  but 
at  present  it  seems  to  many  American  investors 
that  they  are  not  receiving  the  treatment  accorded 
to  the  nationals  of  certain  other  countries  in  the 
Dutch  East  Indies. 

Minister  van  Karnebeek  talked  very  freely  and 
frankly  upon  this  question,  although  of  course  he 
protested  against  the  idea  that  Americans  were  not 
receiving  fair  treatment.  He  pointed  out  that 
there  was  a  marked  difference  between  the  pre-war 
reluctance  of  the  Germans  financially  to  back  their 
own  colonial  exploitation,  and  the  long  standing 
custom  of  Hollanders  freely  to  participate  in  the 
profitable  businesses  of  Java  and  Sumatra,  and  like- 
wise to  reinvest  their  comfortable  profits  in  the 
same  or  similar  enterprises.  He  gave  a  convinc- 
ing defence  of  the  Dutch  requirement  that  foreign 
capital  invested  in  Holland's  colonies  must  be  in 
[132] 


LOW  COUNTRIES  AND  COLONIES 

companies  controlled  by  Dutchmen  having  a  ma- 
jority in  the  board  of  directors.     "So  small  a  peo- 
ple  as  we   are  must   be   careful   to  protect   our- 
selves," said  he,  and  the  history  of  Holland,  espe- 
cially during  the  long  years  of  Spanish  rule,  shows 
that  a  desire  for  self-protection  has  become  inbred 
in  Dutchmen.     That  protection  in  their  East  In- 
dies must  be  sought  in  business  shrewdness  and  not 
in  force,  for  their  administration  of  47,000,000  sub- 
ject peoples  is  conducted  with  a  naval  force  of  less 
than  2,500  men,  and  a  mihtary  one  of  only  40,000, 
three-quarters  of  the  latter  being  native  volunteers. 
Very   fortunately   our  present   administration   at 
Washington  is  actively  concerning  itself  on  behalf 
of  all  fair  claims  by  our  nationals  to  participate 
in  foreign  trade  everywhere,  so  that  at  last  our  mer- 
chants of  enterprise  are  receiving  the  same  govern- 
mental backing  abroad  that  England  has  long  ac- 
corded to  her  exporters. 

The  East  Indies  are  not  the  only  colonies  that 
Holland  possesses,  for  they  have  others  in  the  West 
Indies.  The  shrewd  business  judgment  of  the 
average  Dutchman  is  proverbial,  but  when  we  read 
that  in  1667  they  traded  New  Amsterdam  to  the 
English  in  exchange  for  Dutch  Guiana  (or  Suri- 

[133] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

nam,  as  they  call  it),  our  confidence  in  Dutchmen 
as  traders  receives  a  jolt!  It  is  only  fair,  however, 
to  comment  that  this  exchange  was  not  entirely  a 
voluntary  one,  for  military  necessity  played  a  con- 
siderable part  therein.  Both  Surinam  and  Cura- 
sao, two  groups  of  three  small  islands  each,  are  not 
profitable  colonies  for  Holland,  indeed  they  show  a 
considerable  annual  deficit,  but  perhaps  they  may 
some  day  afford  a  means  for  ironing  out  the  mis- 
understanding recently  caused  by  certain  American 
enterprises  receiving  less  consideration  than  other 
foreigners  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  And  how? — 
In  our  French  chapter  we  mentioned  the  desira- 
bility that  the  Caribbean  Sea  should  become  a  Pan- 
American  lake,  and  gave  reasons  therefor.  We 
intimated  that  France  would  greatly  please  a  wide 
American  public  if  they  followed  Denmark's  lead 
by  selling  us  their  West  Indian  possessions.  Why 
should  not  Holland  take  this  very  step,  and  thereby 
receive  a  money  payment  materially  reducing  her 
debt  incurred  by  four  years  of  war  mobilisation? 
It  would  be  an  operation  as  pleasing  to  her  taxpay- 
ers as  it  would  be  to  our  people,  and  any  trade  that 
benefits  both  sides  is  not  only  good  business  but  also 
sound  international  patriotism. 
[134] 


CHAPTER  V:  SCANDINAVIAN 
PROBLEMS 


CHAPTER  V 

SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

MUCH  has  been  said  and  written  of  the  World 
War's  effect  on  Continental  Europe  and  the 
British  Isles,  but  next  to  nothing  about  Scandina- 
via's changed  status  due  to  the  same  cause.  Before 
the  war  Sweden  was  ever  confronted  with  danger 
of  Russian  invasion  on  her  eastern  front,  and  Den- 
mark was  still  suffering  from  the  seizure  of  the 
Schleswig  agricultural  lands  on  her  southern 
boundary,  the  first  fruits  of  Bismarck's  grouping 
of  a  Pan-German  bloc  shortly  to  become,  under  his 
aggressive  leadership,  the  German  Empire.  Nor- 
way had  developed  a  splendid  merchant  marine 
with  a  tonnage  exceeding  three  million,  for  which, 
however,  she  badly  needed  coal.  Then  the  war 
broke  out.  Even  though  Denmark,  Sweden,  and 
Norway  took  no  belligerent  part  in  the  great  strug- 
gle, they  could  not  entirely  escape  its  destruction. 
All  three  of  these  northern  kingdoms  suffered 
from  submarines  and  floating  mines,  Norway  worst 
of  all,  for  she  lost  1162  seamen  and  a  half  of  her  pre- 

[137] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

war  shipping.  On  the  credit  side  of  the  balance, 
in  the  matter  of  cold  cash,  the  citizens  of  all  three 
nations  benefited  by  their  position  as  neutrals,  with 
the  result  that  the  profiteers  of  Scandinavia  are 
noticeably  abroad  in  the  land.  Furthermore,  al- 
though nonparticipants  in  the  fighting,  two  of  those 
northern  nations  actually  gained  territory,  Nor- 
way by  the  Paris  treaty  of  February  9,  1920  re- 
ceiving the  rich  coal  fields  of  Spitzbergen,  thereto- 
fore No-Man's  Land,  while  for  Denmark  came  a 
solution  of  the  old  Danish  Duchies  question  by  the 
Allies'  return  to  her  (confirmed  by  the  1921  ple- 
biscite) of  Northern  Schleswig,  taken  by  Bis- 
marck in  1864.  Together  with  this  territory,  half 
again  as  large  as  Rhode  Island,  she  receives  an 
added  population  of  nearly  two  hundred  thousand, 
a  comfortable  addition  to  her  three  million  and 
forty-nine  thousand.  Norway's  two  and  a  half 
million  gained  no  addition  from  the  Spitzbergen 
annexation.  Such  was  the  appreciation  showed  by 
the  Allies  for  the  benevolent  neutrality  of  those  two 
countries. 

But  Sweden  was,  on  the  whole,  pro-German, 
perhaps   not   so   much   from   preference   for   the 
German  side  of  the  struggle,  as  because  for  cen- 
[138] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

turies  she  constantly  dreaded  the  Russian  giant  on 
her  eastern  frontier  and  could  see  only  the  prom- 
ised friendship  of  Germany  as  a  help  in  case  of 
need.  We  outsiders  may  not  dread  the  sword  of 
Damocles,  but  we  must  not  expect  Damocles  to 
forget  What  is  constantly  hanging  over  his  head! 
How  could  the  Swedes  be  expected  to  side  openly 
with  the  French  nation  which  had  entered  into  such 
close  relations  with  the  dreaded  Muscovite,  rela- 
tions both  governmental  and  also  financial,  through 
Russian  loans  bought  widely  by  the  French,  peas- 
ant and  banker  alike.  The  history  of  Russia  is 
nothing  but  a  long  series  of  absorptions  of  fron- 
tier neighbours,  and  how  could  a  small  nation  like 
the  6,000,000  Swedes  resist  170,000,000  Russians  if 
and  when  their  growing  demand  for  an  outlet  upon 
the  North  Sea  became  insistent?  For  do  not  for- 
get that  Sweden  is  not  only  a  Baltic  power,  but 
also  possesses  the  fine  ice-free  port  of  Goteborg, 
looking  out  westerly  across  the  North  Sea. 

As  a  result  of  the  war  Sweden  has  actually  lost 
territory,  for  a  Commission  appointed  by  the  Al- 
lies adjudicated  the  Alaand  Islands  to  the  newly 
erected  free  state  of  Finland,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  those  islands  are  inhabited  by  27,000  pure- 

[141] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

blooded  Swedes  who  in  a  plebiscite  voted  almost 
unanimously  (95  per  cent)  to  be  incorporated  with 
Sweden.  Furthermore,  they  are  only  seventy-five 
miles  as  the  crow  flies  from  Stockholm,  the  capital 
and  heart  of  Sweden,  which  could  with  the  Big 
Berthas  of  modern  artillery  be  bombarded  from 
the  Alaands.  The  argument  that  the  9  per  cent 
of  the  Finnish  population  who  are  Swedes  approve 
this  allotment  of  islands  to  Finland  falls  to  the 
ground  when  we  reflect  that  this  slender  minority 
would  naturally  welcome  the  addition  of  the  27,000 
Swedes  inhabiting  those  islands.  Sweden,  all  of 
Sweden,  feels  this  decision  keenly;  it  is  a  blow  to 
her  pride  as  well  as  a  danger  to  her  capital. 

At  first  glance,  therefore,  it  would  seem  that 
although  Norway  and  Denmark  gained  by  the  Al- 
lies' victory  in  the  w^ar,  Sweden  the  pro-German 
had  lost ; — but  has  she  ?  Must  it  not  be  counted  as 
a  great  gain  for  her  that  at  last,  by  the  collapse 
of  Russia,  the  ages-long  peril  on  her  eastern  bor- 
der has  been  eliminated  ?  And  if  and  when  Russia 
casts  off  the  hideous  spell  of  Bolshevism  and  be- 
comes once  more  a  great  power,  even  then  is  not 
Sweden  guaranteed  against  a  Muscovite  swoop  by 
the  buffer  state  of  Finland,  a  compact  body  of 
[142] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

3,500,000  souls,  progressive  and  well  educated? 
Has  not  Sweden  thus  gained,  at  no  cost  but  the 
Alaand  Islands  blow  to  her  pride,  that  very  secur- 
ity for  her  future  which  is  the  one  thing  France  is 
still  seeking  and  must  have?  The  Eastern  Front 
Nightmare  has  been  laid  for  Sweden,  but  not  so  for 
France,  complete  victor  though  she  was  in  the 
greatest  war  of  all  history.  This  Russian  peril,  so 
dreaded  in  Sweden,  was  also  a  menace  to  Norway, 
for  if  Sweden  were  overrun  by  Cossack  hordes,  her 
westerly  neighbour  would  not  have  escaped  inva- 
sion. Some  Norwegians,  notably  their  great  leader 
Gunnar  Knudsen,  have  always  poohpoohed  this 
danger,  but  not  so  most  of  the  Norse  folk.  So 
much  for  the  territorial  changes  brought  by  the  war 
to  Scandinavia. 

And  now  for  a  further  comment  upon  the  Rus- 
sian peril,  which  will  reveal  still  another  change  due 
to  the  war.  This  peril  existed  by  sea  as  well  as 
by  land  because  Russia  possessed  a  powerful  fleet, 
but  the  Russian  debacle  of  1917  completed  what 
the  Japanese  victory  of  Tsushima  Straits  began — 
the  elimination  of  Russia  as  a  naval  menace  in  the 
Baltic.  Nor  does  that  fact  alone  finish  the  story 
of  the  war's  effect  upon  that  large  inland  sea,  for 

[143] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

it  also  reduced  the  German  naval  force  to  insig- 
nificant proportions.  No  longer  will  the  Kiel  Canal 
serve  as  a  naval  shuttle  to  shift  the  powerful  Ger- 
man home  fleet  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Baltic 
or  vice  versa.  No,  the  Baltic  is  freed  from  over- 
powering naval  control  by  Russia  or  Germany,  and 
has  become  an  international  lake  somewhat  like  the 
Mediterranean. 

The  delivery  of  the  German  fleet  to  the  Allies 
at  Scapa  Flow  restored  for  Sweden  and  Den- 
mark the  equilibrium  of  the  Baltic,  but  Sweden 
needs  a  triple  equilibrium, — Baltic,  Scandinavian, 
and  European.  All  three  seem  achieved,  but 
unfortunately  Sweden  has  for  a  long  time  been 
in  the  bad  books  of  France  which  now  dominates 
the  European  equilibrium.  Doubtless  Sweden  will 
seek  to  remedy  this,  and  given  the  intelligence  of 
her  leaders  and  the  fact  that  her  able  and  widely 
popular  King  is  the  great-grandson  of  the  French 
Marshal  Bernadotte,  the  end  desired  should  surely 
be  attained.  Nor  would  such  an  adjustment  be 
entirely  one-sided.  France  has  shown  by  her  inter- 
est in  Poland  and  the  so-called  Petite  Entente  coun- 
tries of  Czecho-Slovakia,  Roumania,  and  Jugo- 
slavia, how  greatly  she  values  friends  upon  the 
[144] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

eastern  and  southern  borders  of  Germany,  and  why 
is  it  not  logical  that  she  should  follow  the  same 
policy  upon  the  north  of  her  late  foe,  and  reahse 
the  usefulness  of  a  Swedish  friendship?  And  no 
one  can  deny  that  the  French  mind  is  the  most 
logical  of  any  in  Europe. 

And  now  let  us  consider  the  post-war  points  of 
view  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  first  upon 
foreign  affairs,  and  then  upon  their  domestic  prob- 
lems. In  no  other  part  of  the  world  will  a  trav- 
eller's preconceived  notions  receive  such  a  jolt — 
such  a  rude  awakening  to  an  unexpected  state  of 
affairs — as  when  for  the  first  time  he  visits  Scan- 
dinavia. He  will  expect  to  find  conditions  and 
public  opinion  similar  in  all  three  countries.  Not  at 
all — they  are  basically  quite  different. 

It  is  true  that  the  Danes,  Swedes,  and  Norwe- 
gians are  aU  of  one  family,  that  their  languages  are 
so  similar  as  to  be  readily  understood  each  one  by 
both  the  others,  and  that  they  have  many  tastes  and 
customs  alike.  But  there  it  ends;  they  are  all  of 
one  family,  but  because  of  Danish  specialising  in 
agriculture,  of  Swedish  industrialism,  and  of  Nor- 
wegian love  for  sea-trading,  as  well  as  by  reason  of 
their  entirely  distinct  attitudes  upon  foreign  af- 

[145] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

fairs,  they  are  very  dissimilar  brothers.  Picture  to 
yourself  three  sons  given  a  holiday  to  spend  each 
as  he  prefers,  and  the  Norwegian  brother  goes  boat- 
ting,  the  Danish  a-gardening,  whilst  the  Swedish 
turns  to  mechanics.  All  are  of  the  same  family 
circle,  but  each  has  his  own  individual  tendencies, 
which,  however,  in  no  wise  make  for  disturbance 
of  the  family  harmony.  And  the  wac  has  brought 
this  family  closer  together,  for  one  very  significant 
result,  frequently  overlooked,  is  that  from  it  has 
grown  up  a  close  inter- Scandinavian  friendship  not 
theretofore  existing. 

During  the  fighting,  their  position  as  neutrals 
naturally  led  to  conferences  (at  Malmo  and  else- 
where) upon  how  that  neutrality  should  be  main- 
tained, which  in  tm-n  brought  about  plans  to  ex- 
change certain  products  one  had  in  plenty  and  the 
others,  because  of  war  blockades,  lacked.  Those 
conferences  developed  into  an  annual  inter-parlia- 
mentary meeting  to  which  each  of  the  three  par- 
liaments elects  from  its  own  body  twenty  repre- 
sentatives, having  due  proportionate  regard  to  the 
strength  of  its  political  parties.  These  meetings 
effect  a  number  of  useful  purposes :  postage  within 
Scandinavia  is  fixed  at  half  the  charge  to  outside 
[146] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

countries,  etc.,  etc.  Above  all,  opportunity  is  given 
not  only  for  their  statesmen  to  become  mutually  ac- 
quainted but  also  to  blow  off  steam  upon  any  topic 
which  for  the  moment  may  be  causing  annoyance. 
Steam  never  leads  to  explosions  unless  it  is  con- 
fined, which  is  even  truer  in  politics  than  in  dy- 
namics. 

I  had  occasion  to  remark  a  case  in  point,  for  I 
was  in  Copenhagen  while  one  of  these  meetings 
was  being  held  July  6,  1921,  a  few  miles  away. 
Its  most  discussed  episode  was  the  ringing  speech 
of  the  Norwegian  Storthing's  president,  Gunnar 
Knudsen,  protesting  against  a  further  development 
of  inter-Scandinavian  relations.  The  Danes  and 
even  more  so  the  Swedes  hastened  to  explain  to 
inquiring  foreigners  that  those  inter-nation  rela- 
tions were  in  no  sense  an  alliance,  not  even  an  en- 
tente, but  it  was  nevertheless  clear  they  were  both 
willing  to  be  headed  in  the  direction  which  the  Nor- 
wegian opposed.  He  protested  that  Norway  had 
had  enough  of  union,  and  that  it  might  as  well  be 
definitely  understood  that  the  present  status  of  the 
inter-parliamentary  council  marked  a  point  beyond 
which  Norway  would  not  go. 

Was  he  perhaps  remembering  that  Prussia  (or 

[147] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

shall  we  say  Bismarck?)  constructed  the  German 
Empire  of  a  customs  union  plus  a  common  victory 
gained  by  its  members  against  an  outside  foe?  Be 
that  as  it  may,  no  one  can  blink  the  fact  that  the 
very  existence  of  these  interparliamentary  meetings 
has  perhaps  unwittingly  brought  into  existence  a 
Scandinavian  Monroe  Doctrine, — an  unwritten  de- 
fensive alliance  that  would  unitedly  oppose  any 
seizure  of  Scandinavian  territory  by  an  outsider. 
And  if  ever  a  united  front  did  become  necessary 
against  such  a  foe  and  a  joint  war  cabinet  were 
formed,  it  would  seem  as  if  its  Minister  of  Marine 
would  naturally  come  from  Norway,  its  Minister 
of  Agriculture  from  Denmark,  and  its  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs  from  Sweden. 

Knudsen's  position  will  be  explained  by  remem- 
bering that  it  was  his  party,  the  Radicals,  that 
commenced  in  1885  the  agitation  for  separation 
from  Sweden  which  they  brought  to  success  in  the 
Karlstad  agreement  of  September  25,  1905.  The 
sensible  and  decent  way  in  which  Sweden  assented 
to  that  secession  of  Norway  displays  one  of  the 
finest  moments  of  Scandinavian  statesmanship, 
which  was  "self-determination"  raised  to  the  nth. 
power.  All  nations  should  take  notice  of  this 
[148] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

notable  act  by  a  proud  people.  With  a  population 
over  twice  that  of  Norway,  and  with  far  greater 
wealth,  natural  resources,  and  military  power,  Swe- 
den accepted  her  neighbour's  withdrawal,  and  that 
which  a  century  of  disputes  had  rendered  inev- 
itable, took  place.  And  with  what  result? — there 
has  come  about  a  friendship  between  them,  a  spirit 
of  mutual  understanding  and  appreciation  before 
impossible,  and  this  has  benefited  and  will  continue 
to  benefit  both  parties.  Until  1905  the  Scandina- 
vian equilibrium  was  always  in  danger,  but  that 
crisis  past,  it  is  now  as  stable  as  that  of  the  Baltic 
became  by  the  reduction  of  Russian  and  German 
naval  power. 

The  Swedes  believe  that  these  inter-parliamen- 
tary meetings  would  have  been  much  strengthened 
by  a  participation  of  the  Finns  therein,  but  the  un- 
pleasantness occasioned  by  their  accepting  the 
Alaand  Islands  taken  from  Sweden  has  necessa- 
rily postponed  this.  Finland  needs  the  co-opera- 
tion of  Swedish  capital  to  develop  her  resources, 
which  has  also,  for  the  same  reason,  been  adjourned 
until  the  Greek  Kalends.  Notwithstanding  the 
best  efforts  at  the  Geneva  meeting  of  the  League 
of  Nations   by   Sweden's   representatives.    Count 

[149] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Wrangel,  the  veteran  diplomat,  Branting,  the  hard- 
headed  Socialist  editor  (and  recently  become  Prime 
Minister),  and  Coimt  Ehrensvaard,  leader  of  her 
pro-French  opinion,  a  decision  was  rendered  not 
only  that  deprives  the  Scandinavian  interparlia- 
mentary meetings  of  a  valuable  factor,  but  also 
throws  an  apple  of  discord  between  Sweden  and 
Finland  who  ought,  for  the  peace  of  Europe,  to  be 
on  the  best  of  terms. 

The  foreign  friendships  of  the  three  kingdoms 
are  not  and  probably  never  will  be  the  same.  Nor- 
way is  especially  friendly  to  Great  Britain  and  has 
no  marked  animosities  in  other  quarters.  Denmark 
is  inclined  to  be  self-centred  in  her  friendship,  but 
because  of  the  Schleswig  Holstein  episode,  has  long 
been  unfriendly  to  Germany,  while  Sweden,  partly 
by  reason  of  her  centuries  of  Russian  peril  and 
partly  through  German  propaganda,  has  come  to 
count  upon  Germany's  friendship  and  to  be  some- 
what anti-English.  Astute  Germany  used  the 
Russian  peril  argument  with  the  Swedes  just  as 
the  Kaiser  reiterated  the  Yellow  Peril  hint  with 
us.  And  when  the  French  made  their  alliance  with 
Russia,  how  neatly  that  fitted  into  the  German 
propaganda! 
[150] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

As  for  Scandinavia's  attitude  toward  France,  a 
clever  Swede,  Ivar  Lagerwall,  remarks  that  the 
Danes,  with  their  esprit  and  vivacity,  understand 
the  French  temperament,  but  that  the  Norwegians 
and  Swedes  are  rather  worried  by  it,  just  as  a  hen 
who  sees  ducklings  taking  to  water  cannot  help 
wondering  if  they  will  not  drown, — a  feeling  that 
they  should  not  be  allowed  to  indulge  in  such  fol- 
lies, but  meanwhile  fascinated  by  their  enterprise! 

Generally  speaking,  Scandinavia's  point  of  view 
on  world  politics  is  as  far  removed  as  possible  from 
the  Welt  Politik  of  the  Prussian  militarist.  At  the 
very  time  the  latter  was  scheming  to  put  Deutsch- 
land  iiber  Alles,  the  former  (in  1905)  were  dem- 
onstrating how  two  combined  kingdoms  could  sepa- 
rate in  decent  and  self-respecting  fashion,  and  na- 
tional honour  be  safeguarded  without  recourse  to 
arms!  And  Scandinavia  has  another  and  very 
timely  lesson  to  teach.  Is  it  not  wiser  policy  to  be 
a  strong  small  power  like  Norway  or  Sweden  than 
to  be  a  weak  large  one  like  the  new  Poland  ?  Would 
not  those  newly  created  countries  of  Europe,  born 
at  Versailles,  do  well  to  study  the  national  attitude 
in  this  regard  of  the  sturdy  little  kingdoms  of  Den- 
mark, Norway,  and  Sweden? 

[151] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

We  may  remark  in  passing  that,  after  a  fashion, 
Swedish  and  American  points  of  view  upon  foreign 
affairs  are  similar.  The  subject  incites  but  languid 
interest  in  both  countries.  Both  of  us  are  cut  off 
by  water  from  continental  Europe.  Very  many 
more  of  us  visit  foreign  countries  than  foreigners 
come  to  visit  us.  Neither  of  us  desires  territorial 
aggrandisement,  and  we  are  both  willing  to  let  well 
enough  alone.  We  believe  that  small  and  large 
countries  are  entitled  to  exactly  the  same  treat- 
ment regardless  of  their  size — that  their  status  is 
the  same  no  matter  what  their  stature; — so  does 
Sweden. 

Coming  now  to  the  consideration  and  conduct  of 
their  home  affairs,  differences  between  the  coun- 
tries are  as  noticeable  as  those  we  observed  in  their 
attitude  in  foreign  affairs.  In  this  regard  it  is  per- 
haps enlightening  to  remark  how  different  are  the 
leading  statesmen  in  each  land,  since  such  dignita- 
ries are  apt  to  be  nationally  typical.  A  man  does 
not  become  Prime  Minister  or  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs  unless  he  possesses  certain  qualifica- 
tions of  thought  and  personality  which  appeal  to 
his  compatriots.  In  a  sense  therefore,  perhaps 
without  either  he  or  they  reahsing  it,  he  is  apt  to 
[152] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

incarnate  public  opinion.  In  Denmark  the  Prime 
Minister,  Mr.  Neils  Neergard,  by  his  moderate 
Liberalism  combined  with  a  practical  Socialism  cer- 
tainly typifies  in  excellent  fashion  the  marked  com- 
mon sense  everywhere  evidenced  in  that  land  of  co- 
operative agriculture ;  of  him,  more  anon. 

In  Sweden  where  until  the  September,  1921, 
elections,  there  was  so  even  a  balance  between  the 
political  parties  that  no  one  had  sufficient  working 
majority  to  undertake  the  responsibilities  of  gov- 
ernment, the  Prime  Minister,  Oscar  von  Sydow, 
frankly  avowed  that  he  was  a  member  of  no  one 
political  party,  but  only  an  administrative  officer! 
His  success  as  a  judge,  as  Governor  of  the  north- 
ern provinces,  as  Commissioner  in  boundary  ques- 
tions with  Norway,  and  recently  as  Commissioner 
to  supervise  the  Schleswig  Holstein  plebiscite, 
gained  for  him  such  wide  pubHc  confidence  that  he 
was  selected  as  the  best  type  of  non-political  ef- 
ficient to  head  a  cabinet  of  balanced  parties.  Tem- 
peramentally he  possessed  the  necessary  poise  for 
such  a  task,  and  in  that  regard  he  represented  the 
Swedish  national  good  sense  so  admu'ably  displayed 
during  the  1905  secession  of  Norway.  After  the 
autumn  elections  of  1921  went  in  favour  of  the  Rad- 

[153] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ical  party,  Hjalmar  Branting  was  called  to  form 
a  Cabinet  and  became  Prime  Minister,  taking  the 
portfolio  of  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  It  is  not 
the  first  time  that  he  has  headed  the  Cabinet,  and 
although  a  Radical,  he  is  a  sound  and  reliable  one. 

During  a  long  talk  I  had  with  this  veteran  states- 
man in  July,  1921,  he  spoke  almost  entirely  of  for- 
eign affairs,  and  from  his  shrewd  comments  on  cur- 
rent events  outside  Sweden,  it  was  easy  to  see  that 
he,  an  old  editor,  kept  in  constant  touch  through 
foreign  newspapers  with  the  swing  of  public  opin- 
ion abroad.  Even  though  he  was  then  out  of 
power,  all  the  government  officials  with  whom  I 
talked,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  all  said  "on 
no  account  leave  Sweden  without  meeting  Bran- 
ting!"  They  were  evidently  proud  of  him  as  a 
product  of  Swedish  public  life,  and  what  is  much 
more  important,  they  trusted  him.  Most  of  these 
approving  remarks  came  from  men  outside  his 
party,  which  made  them  all  the  more  significant. 
His  pleasant  manner,  his  frankness  of  speech,  his 
fresh-coloured  honest  face,  surmounted  by  a  shock 
of  iron  grey  hair,  all  tend  to  make  for  him  friends 
at  first  sight. 

When  he  took  office  he  had  just  completed  a  very 
[154] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

useful  service,  representing  his  countiy  at  the 
League  of  Nations  conference  in  Geneva,  where  he 
had  an  opportunity  to  freshen  his  contact  with  po- 
htical  leaders  from  all  over  Europe. 

Otto  Blehr,  Prime  Minister  of  Norway  since 
Gunnar  Knudsen,  his  party-mate,  resigned  in  his 
favour  in  September,  1920,  certainly  personifies  in 
truthful  fashion  the  determined  Radicalism  so  pop- 
ular in  that  rugged  country,  and  both  he  and  Knud- 
sen (long  political  associates)  by  their  mature  years 
and  sturdy  forms  reflect  the  settled  opinion  and 
forward-faced  enterprise  inherited  from  Viking 
forebears. 

As  in  these  Scandinavian  Prime  Ministers,  so, 
too,  in  their  Ministers  for  Foreign  Affairs,  is  local 
public  opinion  reflected  and  incarnated.  Mr. 
Raested,  the  Norwegian  Minister  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, has  had  more  experience  therein  than  his  ap- 
pearance of  early  middle  age  would  indicate.  He 
is  cautious  of  speech  and  of  a  simple  pleasantness 
in  conversation,  during  which  he  frequently  recurs 
to  how  greatly  Norway  desires  closer  relations  with 
the  United  States,  and  one  is  surely  not  long  in 
Christiania  before  learning  that  in  this  respect  the 
Minister   is   typically    Norwegian.     Mr.    Harald 

[155] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Scavenius,  head  of  the  Danish  Foreign  Office  and 
formerly  Minister  to  Russia,  is  the  third  of  that 
name  and  family  to  hold  that  post  in  immediate 
succession.  All  three  cousins  are  trained  diplo- 
mats, but  so  far  from  constituting  a  political 
dynasty,  they  all  differ  in  politics,  Harald  Sca- 
venius being  a  Liberal,  Erik  Scavenius  a  Radical, 
while  O.  C.  Scavenius,  the  first  of  the  series  (but 
now  Director  at  the  Foreign  Office)  has  no  po- 
litical colour  at  all.  The  unusual  spectacle  of  three 
men,  all  of  the  same  name,  succeeding  each  other 
in  the  same  high  office  is  in  itself  a  demonstration 
of  Danish  insistence  upon  steady  governmental 
progress  regardless  of  changing  phases  in  politics. 
Branting's  immediate  predecessor  in  the  Swedish 
Foreign  Office  was  Count  Wrangel.  Trained  to 
diplomacy  as  secretary  in  five  Legations  and  as 
Minister  in  Paris,  Brussels,  The  Hague,  Petro- 
grad,  and  finally  for  fourteen  years  in  London, 
Sweden  had  in  him  not  only  a  thoroughly  well  pre- 
pared Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  but  also  one 
who  by  reason  of  long  residence  in  London  and  his 
charming  French  wife,  was  so  informed  on  both 
English  and  French  points  of  view  as  to  be  espe- 
cially well  equipped  to  treat  with  those  two  victors 
[156] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

in  the  World  War.  The  long  connection  of  his 
ancestors  with  their  country's  government  means 
that  having  an  unusual  grasp  of  the  historical  de- 
velopment of  Sweden's  point  of  view,  he  too  per- 
sonified to  a  marked  degree  her  foreign  pohcy. 

Coming  then  through  the  personalities  of  their 
different  Ministers  to  consider  Scandinavian  points 
of  view,  we  find  that  interesting  as  are  their  atti- 
tudes upon  foreign  affairs  even  more  so  are  they 
upon  domestic  development.  From  these  latter  we 
may  learn  much  of  immediate  practical  use  for  our- 
selves. 

The  middle  man  in  America  has  become  in- 
tolerable; if  you  doubt  it,  ask  the  housekeeper  in 
any  of  our  city  homes,  or,  better  still,  question  the 
farmer  watching  the  undue  profits  of  the  middle- 
man, not  only  reducing  his  own  proper  gain,  but 
also  interfering  with  the  free  transfer  of  farm  prod- 
ucts to  the  consumer  so  greatly  needing  them.  And 
what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it?  Nowhere  is  the 
answer  so  fully  and  so  promptly  answered  as  in 
Denmark.  Not  only  have  its  wise  folk  met  and 
answered  this  question,  but  also  they  no  longer  need 
a  "back  to  the  farm"  crusade  for  they  are  already 
back  there,  and  likewise  widely  contented  with  the 

[157] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

farmer's  lot.  Furthermore,  Denmark  is  to-day  the 
only  European  country  that  not  only  feeds  herself, 
but  also  exports  food  products.  Co-operation 
among  Danish  farmers  has  cut  out  the  middle  man, 
and  govermnent  loans  to  worthy  men  willing  to 
take  up  small  farms  result  in  90  per  cent  of  her 
farmers  owning  their  own  land.  Note  the  expres- 
sion "worthy  folk,"  for  Denmark  is  developing 
character  as  a  by-product  of  agriculture.  By  re- 
quiring proof  of  character  in  applicants  for  farm 
loans,  the  government  has  put  such  a  premium 
thereon  that  even  if  for  no  higher  reason  than  "hon- 
esty is  the  best  policy,"  their  farm  loan  system  is 
proving  of  utmost  value  to  the  nation's  soul. 

A  staunch  advocate  of  this  highly  beneficial  loan 
system  is  Prime  Minister  Neergard.  Son  of  a 
Protestant  clergyman  and  born  in  1854,  Mr.  Neer- 
gard after  a  brilliant  career  at  the  University  of 
Copenhagen,  supplemented  his  work  as  editor 
and  successful  man  of  aif airs  by  a  keen  interest  in 
politics.  As  a  result  of  a  long  career  in  Parlia- 
ment, commencing  in  1887,  he  has  held  several  Cab- 
inet positions,  ahnost  always  serving,  as  now,  as 
Minister  of  Finance.  He  calls  himself  a  Moderate 
Radical,  but  his  compeer  in  Norway,  more  radical 
[158] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

than  he,  points  out  that  Neergard  is  frequently 
aided  in  his  projects  by  conservative  votes  from 
the  Centre  and  Right  of  Parliament.  He  was 
Prime  Minister  in  1908-9  and  has  again  held  that 
responsibility  since  May,  1920.  In  my  conversa- 
tion with  this  tall,  gaunt  statesman,  whose  convinc- 
ing eyes  and  pleasant  simplicity  of  manner  detract 
from  his  otherwise  striking  resemblance  to  Bis- 
marck, I  remarked  that  it  seemed  to  interested 
foreigners  that  his  government  had  made  of  Den- 
mark a  "character  farm."  The  idea  seemed  novel 
to  him,  and  led  to  his  telling  in  considerable  detail 
the  workings  of  their  farm  loan  system.  Because 
these  loans  are  so  easily  obtainable  by  worthy 
would-be  farmers  and  are  available  in  such  com- 
fortable amounts  (reaching  90  per  cent  of  the  land 
value  in  some  cases ) ,  everybody  mortgages  his  land, 
which  means  that  the  farmer  operates  with  suffi- 
cient capital,  not  always  the  case  with  us.  The 
continued  and  growing  demand  for  these  small 
farms  maintains  their  value  and  ready  salability, 
so  that  even  if  an  occasional  farmer  fails,  the  gov- 
ernment loses  nothing  on  the  mortgage  loan. 
Owing  to  the  careful  farming  of  these  small  hold- 
ings, the  land  supports  more  than  twice  as  many 

[159] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

people  as  in  England.  The  frugality  taught  by- 
farm  life  is  reflected  in  the  fact  that  52  per  cent  of 
the  Danes  have  deposits  in  savings  banks,  as  against 
11  per  cent  for  us  Americans. 

It  is  doubtful  if  agricultural  co-operation  would 
succeed  as  it  does  in  Denmark  if  the  farmers  were 
merely  tenants,  but  there  they  are  all  freeholders 
and  that  means  better  citizens.  A  comparison  be- 
tween the  self-reliant,  well-to-do  conditions  preva- 
lent upon  Danish  farms  with  the  crowded  slum  life 
in  our  various  cities  is  somewhat  of  a  blow  to  Amer- 
ican pride!  Not  only  has  this  small  farm  move- 
ment turned  the  earlier  swing  toward  the  cities  back 
again  to  the  land,  but  also  it  has  notably  decreased 
Danish  emigration,  which  proves  that  widespread 
content  has  replaced  a  condition  of  um-est. 

A  new  law  went  into  effect  November  4,  1919, 
which  is  certainly  novel  and  in  a  sense  revolution- 
ary, but  which  seems  to  be  working  well,  although 
even  the  Prime  Minister  admits  it  is  still  too  early 
to  pronounce  it  a  complete  success.  In  the  old  days 
Denmark  was  divided  into  large  estates,  and,  in  the 
case  of  the  nobles,  so  entailed  that  a  nobleman  could 
not  sell  any  of  it  even  if  he  wished  to.  This  new 
law  (acting  upon  the  theory  that  as  the  Crown 
[160] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

originally  granted  all  estates  so  the  Crown  can  with- 
draw part  or  all  of  such  grants)  provides  for  the 
compulsory  breaking  of  all  entails,  the  confiscation 
of  a  quarter  of  all  entailed  estates,  and  the  surren- 
der of  another  one-third  upon  cash  payment  by  the 
State.  Although  this  brought  forth  vigorous  pro- 
tests from  the  large  landed  proprietors,  government 
ojfficials  now  feel  that  even  with  that  class,  it  is  be- 
coming popular,  as  a  man  can  to-day  obtain  money 
for  land  he  was  formerly  forbidden  to  sell.  Inci- 
dentally, this  concession  to  the  Socialist  element  has 
had  a  marked  effect  in  freeing  Denmark  from  Bol- 
shevist agitation. 

^Vhen  we  turn  to  observe  the  effect  of  agricul- 
tural co-operation  upon  Danish  life,  we  are  posi- 
tively startled.  In  less  than  half  a  century,  a  quar- 
ter of  a  million  Danish  farmers  have  formed  nearly 
half  a  million  co-operative  agencies  to  handle  all 
their  selling  and  buying.  And  with  what  result? 
Forty  years  ago  the  milk  supply  was  in  shocking 
condition  and  infant  mortality  deplorable.  Now 
a  co-operative  society  sends  daily  to  each  farm  to 
collect  the  milk.  It  is  weighed,  and  the  weight 
credited  to  each  farmer.  Then  it  is  sampled,  and 
woe  to  the  farmer  whose  milk  falls  belov/  grade! 

[161] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Lastly,  it  is  prepared  for  market  and  delivered 
thereto.  All  the  farmer  has  to  do  is  milk  his  cows 
and  receive  his  profits. 

The  effect  of  this  careful  handling  of  milk  upon 
infant  mortality  has,  of  course,  been  to  reduce  it 
to  negligible  figures.  The  portion  of  the  milk  de- 
voted to  butter  is  never  touched  by  hand  after  it 
leaves  the  cow.  Demnark's  butter  exports  have  in- 
creased by  leaps  and  bounds  because  there  is  no 
question  of  Danish  butter  being  up  to  standard. 
Not  only  has  the  foregoing  greatly  increased  their 
number  of  cows  but  also  of  pigs,  which  are  fed  on 
the  milk  waste.  The  same  careful  treatment  of 
Danish  eggs  has  produced  a  similar  increase  in  that 
export  trade.  Every  Danish  egg  sold  has  been 
tested  and  stamped  with  a  number  so  that  each  can 
be  traced  back  to  the  fowl  which  laid  it,  and  like- 
wise to  the  owner  of  the  said  fowl,  over  whose  head 
constantly  hang  government  penalties  if  an  egg 
goes  wrong!  All  meat  exposed  for  sale  must  bear 
a  government  stamp  as  to  its  quality,  and  here,  too, 
a  co-operative  society  protects  both  the  producer's 
profit  and  a  reasonable  price  for  the  consumer,  with 
refreshing  disregard  of  middlemen.  It  is  perhaps 
urmecessary  to  tell  an  American  that  farmers  such 
[162] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

as  these  are  accustomed  to  have  telephones,  surpris- 
ing as  this  is  to  the  average  European  agricultural- 
ist. Also  can  we  not  guess  that  such  farmers 
demand  good  schools?  But  it  will  surprise  Amer- 
icans to  learn  that  punishment  for  truancy  in  Den- 
mark is  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  hours  the 
truant  may  thereafter  attend  school!  In  order  to 
aid  those  wishing  to  go  out  upon  the  land  there  are 
House-mothers'  schools,  where  all  details  of  house- 
keeping are  taught.  It  is  useless  to  have  good  food 
if  it  be  not  properly  cooked,  and  the  delicatessen 
shops  of  New  York  or  Chicago  do  not  train  young 
wives  for  life  on  the  farm ! 

Alongside  the  narrow  Cattegat  and  Ore  Sund, 
which  are  to  the  great  shipping  traffic  streaming 
into  and  out  of  the  Baltic  what  the  Dardanelles  are 
to  the  Black  Sea,  lies  Copenhagen,  one  of  the 
world's  principal  ports,  more  tonnage  entering  an- 
nually than  in  any  of  our  ports  except  New  York. 
Before  the  war  its  only  rivals  in  northern  Europe 
were  Petrograd  and  Hamburg,  both  of  which  have 
obviously  now  fallen  far  behind.  And  how  are  the 
Danes  taking  advantage  of  this  strategical  position 
of  their  capital?  Instead  of  spending  vast  sums  on 
fortifications  and  battleships  (I  saw  six  war  ves- 

[163] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

sels  lying  out  of  coniniission  at  Copenhagen!)  they 
have  constructed  here  an  huge  free  port,  into  whose 
fifty  acres  of  warehouses,  goods  may  be  landed  free 
of  duty  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  await  sale 
or  transshipment  elsewhere.  When  a  ship  is  bound 
for  the  Baltic  with,  say  800  tons  for  Danzig,  400 
for  Petrograd,  1200  for  Stockhokn,  and  1100  for 
Helsingfors,  it  does  not  pay  to  go  unloaded  from 
one  port  to  another. 

A  port  of  transshipment  is  needed,  and  this  Co- 
penhagen provides.  The  Freeport  Company  issues 
warehouse  warrants  for  goods  entrusted  to  its  care, 
and  against  these  warrants  loans  are  readily  ad- 
vanced by  Danish  bankers,  thus  greatly  facilitating 
business.  Because  the  Kiel  Canal  was  chiefly  built 
for  military  purposes,  and  also  since  slow  steaming 
through  it  is  obligatory,  it  has  never  rivalled  the 
Cattegat  as  the  chief  lane  of  access  to  the  Baltic, 
and  has  therefore  never  imperilled  Copenhagen's 
commercially  strategic  position.  Such  is  Denmark, 
and  its  value  as  an  object  lesson  to  patriotic  Amer- 
icans eager  to  better  conditions  at  home  is  not  ex- 
ceeded by  any  other  country  abroad.  We  must  not 
leave  our  consideration  of  this  hospitable  people 
without  referring  to  the  friendly  feeling  they 
[164] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

aroused  throughout  our  country  by  selling  us  their 
West  Indian  Islands.  Very  widespread  is  our  feel- 
ing that  the  Caribbean  Sea  should  become  a  Pan- 
American  lake,  and  that  the  mouth  of  our  Missis- 
sippi River  and  of  our  Panama  Canal  should  be 
completely  freed  from  European  control  upon 
nearby  islands.  It  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  Hol- 
land, France,  and  England  will  at  no  late  date  fol- 
low the  example  of  Denmark,  and  likewise  sell  us 
their  West  Indian  possessions.  It  would  materially 
reduce  the  vast  English  and  French  war  debts  to 
us,  and  would  relieve  Dutch  taxpayers  of  much  of 
the  cost  incurred  by  their  war-long  mobilisation. 

Although  separated  from  Denmark  only  by  the 
narrow  waters  of  the  Cattegat,  Norway,  its  Scan- 
dinavian fellow,  has  domestic  views  of  a  widely 
differing  sort.  It  looks  out  upon  and  across  the 
sea,  not  only  physically  but  mentally.  "Whilst 
studying  the  intensively  agricultural  Danes,  it  is 
difficult  to  realise  that  any  of  them  were  ever  Vi- 
kings, or  that  they  first  ravaged  and  then  settled  the 
east  coast  of  Britain.  But  once  in  Norway  and 
in  Christiania,  one  need  not  see  the  ancient  Viking 
ships,  marvellously  preserved  notwithstanding  their 
age  of  1100  years,  to  sense  the  sea-adventuring 

[165] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

spirit  still  so  strong  in  every  Norwegian  breast.  It 
is  highly  appropriate  that  Gunnar  Knudsen,  their 
strongest  political  leader,  long  time  Prime  Minister 
but  now  President  of  their  Storthing  or  Parhament, 
should  be  a  ship  owner  and  builder  as  was  his  father 
before  him.  This  vigorous  veteran  of  politics, 
though  born  in  1848,  is  still  all-powerful  in  Nor- 
way, and  was,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  the  leaders 
of  that  movement  for  a  separation  from  Sweden 
begun  in  1885  and  successfully  concluded  in  1905. 

The  present  Prime  Minister,  Mr.  Otto  Blehr, 
also  of  stout  frame  and  of  ripe  years,  and  an  ex- 
pert in  finance,  is  a  contemporary  and  close  per- 
sonal friend  of  Knudsen,  having  long  served  with 
him  in  the  Cabinet.  Mr.  Blehr  is  carrying  out  to 
the  full  the  radical  policies  of  Knudsen  ever  since 
the  latter  resigned  office  as  Prime  Minister  in  June, 
1920,  and  Blehr  succeeded  him.  It  was  highly 
gratifying  to  hear  how  each  of  those  two  men  spoke 
of  our  institutions  and  our  people,  with  whom  they 
felt  the  war  had  brought  Norway  into  closer  re- 
lations. 

Knudsen  told  a  story  of  his  meeting  with  ex- 
President  Roosevelt  during  his  visit  to  Christiania, 
which  illustrates  how  influential  were  even  a  few 
[166] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

chance  words  from  that  illustrious  American.  It 
was  during  a  dinner  at  the  King's  Palace  that  Knud- 
sen  told  Roosevelt  the  Norwegian  Radicals  had  re- 
cently lost  the  elections  because  they  espoused  the 
cause  of  conservation  of  the  nation's  natural  re- 
sources to  prevent  untimely  exploitation  by  indi- 
viduals. "Why,  that  is  exactly  what  I  stand  for 
most  resolutely!"  exclaimed  Roosevelt.  "May  I 
quote  you  to  that  effect  to  the  press?"  asked  Knud- 
sen.  Consent  was  readily  given,  he  did  so,  and  pub- 
lic interest  in  the  distinguished  American's  opin- 
ion materially  helped  to  bring  Knudsen's  party 
back  into  power  on  this  principle,  in  which,  he  said, 
now  all  Norwegians  unitedly  believed. 

To  one  travelling  by  train  between  Christiania 
and  Stockholm,  the  fourteen-hour  railway  journey 
displays  so  many  potential  water  power  sites  that 
one  wonders  why  the  Norwegians  have  not  further 
exploited  their  "white  coal,"  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  especially  as  the  country  lacks  coal  badly. 
Can  it  be  that  the  unlimited  timber  supply  of  Nor- 
way is  waiting  to  be  turned  into  lumber  or  pulp  by 
some  progressive  American  harnessing  their  water 
powers,  just  as  the  suburbs  of  London  did  not  re- 
ceive their  excellent  tramways  until  the  energetic 

[167] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  far-seeing  Yerkes  arrived?  What  better  way 
to  advance  the  friendly  relations  already  so  cordial 
between  Norway  and  the  United  States,  than  for 
American  enterprise  thus  to  increase  the  natural 
wealth  of  Norway  and  so  benefit  her  people? 

The  adventurous  spirit  of  that  Viking  race  still 
manifests  itself,  not  only  in  shipping  ventures  but 
also  in  emigration.  Upon  this  latter  problem  the 
Norwegians  do  not  feel,  as  do  the  Swedes,  that  re- 
striction is  desirable.  Knudsen  expresses  the  opin- 
ion generally  held  by  his  compatriots  that  because 
there  is  at  present  lack  of  employment  at  home,  it 
is  well  to  seek  it  in  friendly  America  where  Nor- 
wegians are  so  well  received  and  appreciated  that 
they  serve  as  apostles  of  better  understanding  be- 
tween Norway  and  their  new  home.  It  was  to  the 
initiative  and  daring  of  Lief  the  Norseman,  son  of 
Eric  the  Red,  that  we  owe  the  first  discovery  of 
America,  and  the  more  of  his  descendants  that  come 
to  strengthen  our  Anglo-Saxon  blood  the  better  for 
the  standard  of  citizenship  in  the  United  States  of 
to-morrow. 

Comment  upon  Norway  would  be  incomplete 
without  a  reference  to  her  distinguished  intellect- 
uals, men  like  Ibsen,  Bjornson,  and  Grieg,  who 
[168] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

have  so  greatly  increased  the  cultural  wealth  of  the 
world.  Considering  Norway's  small  population,  no 
other  country  can  boast  so  large  a  proportion  of 
eminent  geniuses. 

After  one  has  crossed  the  narrow  Ore  Sund  at 
Copenhagen  to  the  Swedish  city  of  Malmo  opposite, 
situated  on  the  fertile  plains  of  Skane  that  lend 
their  name  to  all  Scandinavia,  the  difference  be- 
tween intensively  farmed  Denmark  and  industrial 
Sweden  is  soon  apparent.  Factory  chimneys  are 
exclamation  points  to  accentuate  this  fact.  Only 
10  per  cent  of  Swedish  soil  is  now  tilled,  although 
the  average  for  western  Europe  is  44  per  cent. 
The  swing  from  the  farm  to  the  city,  while  not  so 
great  as  with  us  (only  a  quarter  of  the  Swedes  re- 
side in  towns)  grew  so  marked  that  in  1894  their 
Parliament,  in  order  to  safeguard  agrarian  inter- 
ests, fixed  the  number  of  its  members  to  be  elected 
from  the  towns  at  80  and  from  the  country  districts 
at  150.  Industrialism  demands  power,  and  al- 
though their  forests  and  iron  mines  provide  the 
Swedes  with  inexhaustible  raw  products  to  export, 
they  are  determined  first  to  turn  them  into  manu- 
factured articles,  and  thus  retain  the  profits  of 
manufacture. 

[169] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Fortunately  for  them  their  potential  supply  of 
water  power  fully  equals  their  wealth  in  raw  prod- 
ucts, for  their  estimated  supply  of  "industrial  mean 
water"   (about  nine  months  per  year)   totals  6% 
million  horse  power,  only  exceeded  in  Europe  by 
Norway  with  its  7%  million  horse  power,  France 
following  with  5.9  millions,  and  Italy  with  5.Q,  while 
Germany  has  only  1.4  and  Great  Britain  one  mil- 
lion.     The   Swedish  government,   which   controls 
about  a  quarter  of  these  water  power  sites,  is  very 
wisely,  by  a  loan  system,  encouraging  the  develop- 
ment of  the  privately  owned  ones.     Even  with  this 
assistance  the  advance  is  not  rapid,  and  in  this  field 
opportunity  beckons  to  American  capital  and  en- 
terprise.    Although  Swedish  water  power  is  not 
so  easy  to  harness  as  that  of  Norway  with  its  higher 
falls,  compensation  exists  in  Sweden's  numerous 
lakes  that  help  regulate  the  supply.     Once  har- 
nessed, this  power  finds  plenty  to  do,  not  only  in 
making  the  world  famous  matches,  the  textiles,  etc., 
but  especially  in  turning  the  forests  into  wood  pulp 
and  lumber,  and  in  handling  both  the  rich  iron  ores 
of  central  Sweden  and  the  boundless  deposits  of 
Lapland,  so  full  of  phosphorus. 

Perhaps  the  most  outstanding  economic  fact  con- 
[170] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

cerning  Sweden  is  how  greatly  it  surpasses  all  other 
European  countries  in  railway  development,  since 
for  every  10,000  persons  it  has  26  kilometres  of 
railway  as  against  Denmark's  13.6,  France  and 
Great  Britain's  121/0,  and  Italy's  6.  Like  every- 
thing else  in  Sweden,  the  trains  are  clean  and  com- 
fortable. But  even  more  extensive  than  their  rail- 
way development  is  that  by  steamers.  Large  ves- 
sels run  between  all  the  ports,  while  at  Stockholm, 
plying  about  through  the  labyrinth  of  rivers,  in- 
lets, and  lakes  that  make  this  charming  capital  such 
a  delightful  summer  resort,  are  innumerable  small 
steamers,  comfortable  and  cheap,  and  all  well 
patronised  by  the  energetic,  amusement-loving  folk 
who  are  never  too  busy  to  be  polite.  This  polite- 
ness, by  the  way,  is  obviously  of  the  heart  and  not 
of  the  hat  brim ! 

The  satisfactory  climate  of  Norway  and  Sweden 
is  puzzling  to  one  who  knows  the  climatic  rigours 
of  Alaska  situated  in  about  the  same  northern  lati- 
tude. The  explanation  is  the  Gulf  Stream  which 
washes  the  Norwegian  coast,  while  for  Sweden  there 
is  the  added  fact  that  but  few  clouds  shut  off  the 
sun's  rays  during  the  long  days  of  summer,  though 
frequent  cloudy  skies  in  winter  prevent  radiation  of 

[171] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

the  earth's  heat  during  the  cold  months.  The  re- 
sult is  that  Sweden  has  an  average  January  tem- 
perature ahout  thirteen  degrees  higher  than  other 
countries  of  equally  northerly  situation. 

One  local  industry  now  beginning  to  attract  at- 
tention abroad  is  the  breeding  of  reindeer,  of  which 
the  Swedes  have  about  300,000  head.  They  are 
only  concerned  with  the  hides  and  meat,  but  since 
the  introduction  of  reindeer  into  Alaska  and  north- 
ern Canada,  we  have  found  that  their  presence 
makes  possible  a  considerable  population  at  lati- 
tudes otherwise  too  northerly.  The  reindeer  pas- 
tures on  the  moss  that  covers  the  Arctic  plains,  and 
the  milk  and  meat  not  only  provide  for  colonies  of 
keepers,  but  also  bring  them  profit,  reindeer  beef 
being  now  sent  as  far  south  as  Chicago. 

Sweden  used  to  suffer  from  the  intemperance 
which  a  northerly  climate  is  apt  to  superinduce,  but 
she  has  met  the  problem,  though  in  a  manner  dif- 
fering from  our  total  prohibition  enactment.  Beer 
and  wine  are  freely  obtainable,  but  no  person  under 
twenty-five  may  purchase  spirits.  Upon  attaining 
that  age,  he  or  she  is  provided  with  a  card  permit- 
ting the  purchase  of  four  litres  of  spirits  per  month. 
This  system  has  materially  decreased  drunkenness. 
[172] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

Perhaps  the  gentler  sex  (of  which,  by  the  way, 
there  is  an  abnormal  preponderance  in  Sweden)  do 
not  always  promptly  announce  their  twenty-fifth 
birthday  and  thus  somewhat  postpone  their  buy- 
ing of  spirits.  Possibly  the  same  female  psychol- 
ogy may  there  operate  as  in  the  matter  of  the 
women's  vote  in  England,  where  a  woman  may 
not  vote  until  she  declares  she  has  reached  her  thir- 
tieth birthday;  one  hears  that  sometimes  female 
voting  is  unduly  delayed!  Although  Swedish 
women  have  long  enjoyed  more  political  rights  and 
privileges  than  their  sisters  elsewhere  in  Europe 
(voting  in  municipal  elections  and  holding  elective 
offices)  it  was  not  until  September,  1921,  that  they 
took  part  in  national  elections,  and  wide  was  Scan- 
dinavian interest  as  to  how  this  new  vote  would 
swing.  It  did  not,  as  expected,  go  conservative,  but 
helped  elect  a  Radical  majority  in  the  Parhament. 
Sweden  was  once  a  great  warlike  power,  for  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  when  mercenary  bands  formed 
the  bulk  of  all  armies,  her  regiments  of  citizen-sol- 
diery led  by  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Charles  XII 
overran  northern  Europe,  captured  Prague  and 
stormed  the  gates  of  Moscow.  Now  she  is  a  great 
force  for  peace ;  perhaps  this  change  is  no  better  ex- 

[173] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

emplified  than  by  the  fact  that  the  Swede,  Alfred 
Nobel,  who  gave  the  world-famous  peace  prize,  is 
the  son  of  Emanuel  Nobel,  who  invented  dynamite 
and  submarine  mines ! 

The  sights  which  meet  the  traveller's  eye  in  Scan- 
dinavia are  sometimes  strange,  but  always,  to  an 
American,  the  background  is  familiar,  whether  it 
be  the  agricultural  landscape  of  Danish  small  farms 
or  the  pine  clad  hills  and  frequent  lakes  of  Nor- 
way and  Sweden,  so  reminiscent  of  the  Adiron- 
dacks  or  Bar  Harbor  or  many  another  American 
woodland.  Of  course  we  cannot  lay  claim  to  any- 
thing just  like  the  bold  beauty  of  the  Norwegian 
fjords,  which  must  be  seen  to  be  believed,  nor  that 
of  the  maze  of  inlets  and  islands  which  for  miles 
on  beautiful  miles  stretch  between  Stockholm  and 
the  great  north-thrusting  Gulf  of  Bothnia.  Never- 
theless, an  American  always  feels  strangely  at  home 
in  the  Scandinavian  countries.  Indeed,  it  seems 
more  of  an  homeland  and  less  foreign  to  us  than 
even  England,  from  which  we  get  our  language 
and  so  much  of  our  blood.  Perhaps  the  most  per- 
sistently beautiful  of  all  the  memories  one  takes 
home  from  Norway  and  Sweden  are  the  lovely  sum- 
mer twilights  softly  illumining  the  picturesque 
[174] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

scenery.  Just  as  America  and  Japan  are  blessed 
with  long  and  glorious  autumns  (so  different  from 
the  somewhat  dreary  ones  of  continental  Europe) 
so  is  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  fortunate  in  the 
amazing  length  of  its  deUcious  twilights.  Indeed, 
at  Stockholm  and  Christiania,  both  near  the  60th 
degree  north  latitude,  it  never  becomes  completely 
dark  during  the  summer  months.  Even  after  the 
tardy  setting  of  the  sun  the  afterglow  lingers  on, 
and  at  one  or  two  in  the  morning  the  June  or  July 
sky  shows  a  pale  blueness  that  we  of  lower  latitudes 
do  not  know.  An  Italian  peasant  once  reverently 
told  me  that  the  Lord  made  all  of  the  day  and  night 
except  the  twilight,  but  that  was  made  by  the 
Blessed  Virgin  herself.  Even  more  would  he  have 
been  impressed  by  the  loveliness  of  the  closing  day 
could  he  have  seen  it  in  the  far  north,  notwithstand- 
ing that  meant  his  presence  among  a  people  99 
per  cent  of  the  Lutheran  faith! 

Do  not  expect  strange  sights  in  the  capitals  of 
Copenhagen,  Christiania,  or  Stockholm,  for  you  will 
find  them  handsome  modern  cities  with  nothing  like 
the  number  of  quaint  features  shown  in  many  to 
the  south  of  them.     Prosperous  they  obviously  are 

[175] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  comfortable,  but  hardly  foreign,  at  least  to  the 
American  eye. 

Stockhobn  rejoices  in  a  most  picturesque  situa- 
tion, built  as  it  is  over  islands,  with  many  bridges 
and  waterways.  It  is  the  fashion  to  call  it  the 
Venice  of  the  North,  and  while  it  has  canals  and 
rivers  enough  to  justify  that  name,  and  toward  sun- 
set come  many  of  the  lights  that  make  Venice  so 
lovely,  it  is  far  too  busy  a  city  and  against  too 
rocky  a  background  to  be  really  like  Venice.  Im- 
agine Venice  with  many  large  trees  and  a  Bar  Har- 
bor background ! — impossible. 

Of  Christiania  one  always  remembers  the 
amazing  view  out  over  the  city  and  the  hundred- 
forked  Christiania  fjord  seen  from  Holmenkoilen 
hill.  One  has  to  go  all  the  way  to  Rio  Janeiro 
harbour  for  a  view  so  spacious. 

But  once  outside  the  great  capitals,  Scandinavia 
has  many  quaint  sights.  Everywhere  striking 
peasant  costumes  are  to  be  seen.  In  Norway  old- 
fashioned  log  houses  are  frequent,  and  the  fashion 
of  drying  hay  upon  hurdle-like  fences  prevails  in 
even  longer  stretches  than  in  Sweden.  Though 
the  Swedes  like  to  turn  their  haypiles  into  fences, 
on  the  other  hand  they  build  up  circular  mounds 
[176] 


SCANDINAVIAN  PROBLEMS 

of  firewood  shaped  like  our  hay  stacks.  Perhaps 
the  oddest  sight  in  Denmark  is  their  fashion  of  al- 
ways tethering  grazing  cattle.  You  will  see  long 
rows  of  them,  each  roped  to  a  peg  in  the  ground, 
busily  clearing  a  circle  of  its  fodder.  The  Danes 
maintain  that  this  is  more  economical  of  pasturage, 
for  in  this  way  none  is  wasted  or  unduly  trodden 
under  foot.  But,  after  all,  these  local  idiosyncra- 
sies in  their  rural  landscapes  cannot  destroy  the 
sense  of  familiarity  to  Americans.  We  may  not 
have  Viking  blood  in  our  veins,  but  we  are  just  as 
restless  and  eager  for  new  sights  as  were  those  early 
men  of  initiative  and  daring.  We  know  why  it  is 
that  so  many  Scandinavians,  especially  those  of  the 
northern  peninsula,  delight  to  visit  foreign  lands. 
We  wish  that  all  those  emigrants  would  come  to  us, 
to  a  people  that  welcomes  them,  to  a  land  where 
they  feel  as  much  at  home  as  Americans  do  when 
we  travel  amidst  the  comfort  and  the  sturdy  in- 
telligence of  the  Scandinavian  countries. 


[177] 


CHAPTER  VI:  THE  PETITE  ENTENTE 
—THE  NORTHERN  DAJVI 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    PETITE   ENTENTE THE   NORTHERN    DAM 

WHILE  assembled  at  Versailles,  the  Allies 
erected  two  dams  across  eastern  Europe 
to  prevent,  first,  the  reunion  under  a  Prussian  war 
flag  of  the  old  Austro-Hungarian  grouping  of 
many  peoples ;  and  second,  to  block  a  Pan-German 
overflow  southward  along  the  line  of  that  beautiful 
dream — the  Berlin-Bagdad  railway.  The  Drang 
nach  Osten  must  never  again  be  allowed  to  get 
started  from  Berlin!  These  two  dams  involved  a 
far-reaching  project,  for,  in  addition  to  their  origi- 
nal purposes  they  also  kept  the  Balkans  free  for 
self-development,  and  by  cutting  off  the  Turks 
from  the  Kaiser,  simplified  the  perpetual  Constan- 
tinople problem.  They  further  benefited  the  Al- 
lies by  leaving  the  Near  East  easily  divisible  into 
"spheres  of  influence"  for  England,  France,  Italy 
and  Greece. 

The  northern  and  therefore  the  most  exposed  of 
these  two  dams  consists  of  the  new  republic  of 
Czecho- Slovakia,  running  due  east  and  west  right 

[181] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

athwart  and  against  most  of  the  southern  boundary 
of  Germany.  It  is  a  long  quadrilateral,  buttressed 
with  mountains  and  rivers,  about  the  size  of  Spain, 
and  has  fourteen  million  people.  It  pushes  as  far 
east  as  the  Russian  frontier,  thus  completely  cut- 
ting off  Hungary  from  Germany  and  also  runs 
far  enough  west  to  interfere  materially  between 
Germany  and  what  is  left  of  Austria, — now  a 
greatly  reduced  country  round  about  Vienna,  with 
but  six  million  citizens.  This  first  or  northerly 
dam  is  both  geographically  and  racially  a  stout 
one,  for  centuries  of  oppression  by  Austrians  in- 
terested in  Vienna's  predominance  effected  such 
a  compact  national  grouping  of  the  Bohemians, 
Moravians  and  Slovaks  that  only  freedom  was 
needed  to  create  a  Slav  nation  christened  by  the 
Allies  Czecho-Slovakia.  The  wrongs,  ancient  and 
modern,  of  these  peoples  seem  incarnate  in  their 
selected  leaders,  for  no  small  part  of  the  popular 
strength  of  President  Masaiyk  and  of  Eduard 
Benes,  their  Prime  Minister,  comes  from  the 
general  knowledge  that  in  addition  to  their  per- 
secution and  exile,  the  latter's  wife  and  the  for- 
mer's daughter  were  imprisoned  by  the  government 
seated  at  Vienna.  It  was  chiefly  exercise  of  police 
[182] 


%j^  ^6.  /  //^/ 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

power  that  kept  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire 
together  under  a  Hapsburg,  but  that  very  force 
educated  into  the  Czecho- Slovaks  a  cohesion  that 
makes  this  first  dam  across  east  Central  Europe 
a  solid  one. 

Another  element  making  for  the  stability  of  this 
dyke  is  that  the  leaders  of  this  new  republic  wisely 
refrained  from  seeking  too  ample  a  gi'ouping  of 
territory.  On  the  whole,  they  contented  them- 
selves with  limits  demarked  within  racial  lines  ex- 
pressly to  avoid  later  contention  with  abutting 
neighbours.  Unfortunately,  to  secure  a  complete 
mountain  boundary  on  the  north  they  took  in  a 
couple  of  million  Germans,  whose  delegates  en- 
liven Parhament  occasionally  by  singing  Deutsch- 
land  iiber  Alles.  Also,  to  use  the  Danube  as  part 
of  their  southern  frontier  defence,  they  had  to  take 
in  a  milhon  Magyars.  Perhaps  they  are  begin- 
ning to  realise  that  they  would  have  been  more 
comfortable  without  these  two  ethnic  elements. 
However,  it  must  be  said  to  their  national  credit 
that  they  remembered  that  over  half  their  trade  is 
carried  on  with  Germany  and  realised  that  to  be- 
gin national  existence  by  friction  with  their  prin- 
cipal market  would  be  most  short-sighted.    In  the 

[185] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

same  spirit  they  gracefully  accepted  the  League  of 
Nations'  adverse  decision  in  their  territorial  dis- 
pute over  Teschen  with  their  northeasterly  neigh- 
bour the  Pole.  All  American  friends  of  Poland 
wish  that  its  policy  were  equally  wise,  and  that  the 
Poles  had  not  insisted  upon  such  wide  frontiers 
for  their  new  republic.  The  future  of  all  the  new 
states  born  or  enlarged  at  Versailles  depends 
largely  upon  how  reasonable  they  are  willing  to 
be  with  neighbours,  especially  strong  ones,  and  the 
Czecho-Slovaks  have  made  an  eminently  reason- 
able start.  So  much  for  the  first  dam  across  that 
pet  project  of  the  Prussian  Junkers,  the  Berlin- 
Bagdad  railway. 

Across  the  southern  side  of  the  former  Austro- 
Hungarian  Empire  runs  the  second  of  the  great 
mid-Europe  east  and  west  dams  constructed  at 
Versailles, — Roumania  and  Jugo-Slavia.  We  say 
*'constructed,"  for  although  it  is  true  that  even 
before  the  war  Roumania  and  Serbia  together 
stretched  across  the  route  south  from  Berlin, 
Budapest  and  Vienna,  those  Balkan  states  were 
then  much  weaker  than  they  are  now,  and  besides 
in  those  days  Germany  and  Austria  formed  a 
coterminous  mass  stretching  so  far  south  that  Bel- 
[186] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

grade,  capital  of  Serbia,  could  be  bombarded 
across  the  river  from  Semlin  on  Austrian  soil. 
Versailles  not  only  shut  off  all  the  Hungarians 
and  most  of  the  Austrians  by  creating  Czecho- 
slovakia, but  also  gave  the  Croats  and  Slovenes 
of  south  Austria  to  Serbia  and  Transylvanian 
Hungary  to  Roumania,  thus  advancing  far  to  the 
north  the  boundary  of  this  second  or  southern  dam. 
Versailles  also  strengthened  Roumania  and  that 
greater  Serbia,  the  new  Jugo-Slavia,  largely  in- 
creasing its  population  and,  better  still,  by  con- 
solidation of  races.  The  name  of  the  latter  state 
(meaning  South  Slavs  in  Serbian)  seems  still  in 
the  making,  for  although  abroad  it  is  everywhere 
known  as  Jugo-Slavia,  at  home  it  calls  itself  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Serbs,  Croats  and  Slovenes.  We 
shall  see  later  that  its  future  greatness  depends  in 
an  interesting  way  upon  which  of  those  two  names 
is  going  to  suit  it  best. 

After  these  two  mid-European  east  and  west 
dykes  were  erected  a  second  step  ensued,  meant 
further  to  strengthen  them.  Whether  the  idea  of 
this  step  was  born  in  the  mind  of  Dr.  Eduard 
Benes,  then  Czech  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  or 
whether  he  was  only  the  active  agent  in  putting  it 

[187] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

into  effect  is  unimportant.  It  was  certainly  he 
who  in  August,  1920,  made  hurried  trips  to  Bel- 
grade and  Bucharest  with  the  result  that  there 
were  signed  certain  defensive  and  offensive  alli- 
ances between  his  country,  Roumania,  and  Jugo- 
slavia creating  a  three-partied  agreement  known 
to  Europeans  as  the  ''Petite  Entente/' 

It  is  both  significant  and  appropriate  to  employ 
this  French  name  for  this  new  international  group- 
ing, because  to  France  more  than  to  any  other 
power  is  its  future  cohesion  and  strength  of  im- 
portance. If  the  Petite  Entente  stands  firm,  a 
balance  in  Central  Europe  is  assured,  meaning 
much  for  the  future  security  of  France,  while  for 
the  Petite  Entente  French  friendship  is  a  great 
asset.  Nor  is  this  friendship  a  new  one,  because 
France  has  for  many  years  been  greatly  inter- 
ested in  their  sister  Latins,  the  Roumanians,  whose 
army  is  organised  along  French  lines  and  is 
French  taught. 

Thanks  largely  to  the  far-seeing  statesmanship 
of  Dr.  Milenko  Vesnitch,  long  Serbian  Minister  in 
Paris,  France  also  early  learned  the  wisdom  of 
aiding  the  Serbs  and  thus  gaining  a  friend  south  of 
her  inveterate  foe  of  Central  Europe.  When  in 
[188] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

1911  the  Serbian  King  was  invited  by  the  French 
Government  to  visit  Paris,  we  who  witnessed  his 
loudly  acclaimed  ride  down  the  Avenue  du  Bois 
de  Boulogne  and  through   the   Champs   Elysees 
thought  the  Serbian  Minister  vastly  clever  to  have 
so  far  won  French  friendship  for  his  Sovereign 
and  people.      Certainly  none  of  us  then  antici- 
pated  that,   before   his   untimely   death   in   May, 
1921,  robbed  Europe  of  a  gi*eat  Constitutionalist, 
Franco-Serbian  friendship  would  have  trebled  the 
territory  and  population  of  his  beloved  home-land! 
Between  his  death  and  state  funeral,  his  apprecia- 
tive compatriots  ratified  the  new  constitution  so 
largely  due  to  his  brain,  and  to  further  which  he 
had,  for  more  than  a  year,  supported  those  oner- 
ous responsibihties  of  Prime  Minister  which  so 
broke  his  health  as  to  cost  his  life.     Never  did  a 
patriot  more  truly  die  for  his  country,  nor  did  one 
ever  leave  so  completely  rounded  a  service  to  en- 
dear his  memory  at  home!     Shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  him  laboured  the  veteran  Pashich,  whom  we 
will  visit  in  his  Ministry  at  Belgrade. 

But  let  us  come  back  to  Benes,  for  he  occupies 
a  unique  position  not  always  understood  even  in 
Europe.    All  the  European  Prime  Ministers  but 

[189] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

he  owe  their  tenure  of  office  to  controlHng  a  ma- 
jority vote  in  Parhament.  If  they  lose  that,  out 
they  go.  In  his  country  the  Cabinet  is  appointed 
by  the  President,  and  because  of  Benes'  long  and 
close  friendship  with  President  Masaryk  whom  he 
adores,  he  enjoys  a  stability  of  pohtical  position 
nowhere  else  found  in  Europe.  The  Constitution 
of  Czecho- Slovakia  says  that  its  President  may  not 
be  re-elected,  except  the  first  President,  an  elo- 
quent proof  of  a  people's  gratitude  to  Masaryk 
and  a  graceful  way  of  announcing  his  election  for 
life.  Because  of  the  high  regard  which  Masaryk 
has  long  entertained  for  Benes,  enduring  through 
years  of  political  storm  and  now  sunshine,  Benes 
may  be  said  to  be  in  office  for  life — that  is,  for 
Masaryk's  life. 

The  policy  of  both  the  President  and  his  Min- 
ister is  not  only  peace  with  all  neighbours  but  also 
peace  between  all  those  neighbours,  and  for  this 
policy  there  is  an  urgent  national  reason.  Within 
the  confines  of  this  Succession  State  (as  fragments 
of  the  old  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  are  called) 
of  Czecho-Slovakia  are  to  be  found  nearly  eighty 
per  cent  of  all  the  business,  manufacturing  and 
otherwise  of  the  old  Dual  Monarchy,  and  this 
[190] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

means  that  no  one  in  that  part  of  the  world  is  in 
such  urgent  need  of  markets  as  the  Czech.  He 
does  not  want  war  anywhere,  least  of  all  nearby, 
for  war  shuts  markets.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  Benes,  Masaryk's  active-minded  and  bodied 
^linister  is  the  most  potential  factor  for  peace  in 
all  southeastern  Europe.  More  power  to  his 
elbow! 

The  reason  for  Masaryk's  remarkable  hold  upon 
his  people  is  not  far  to  seek,  for  he  incarnates  the 
best  there  is  in  that  group  of  differing  but  inter- 
dependent  Slavs  making  up   the  new  Republic. 

And  what  a  splendid  figure  is  this  Masaryk,  the 
veteran  patriot!  Born  in  1850,  son  of  a  coach- 
man, beginning  his  long  career  as  an  apprentice 
to  a  locksmith  and  then  to  a  blacksmith,  who  would 
ever  have  predicted  his  elevation  not  only  to  the 
Presidency  of  a  Republic  but  also  upon  the 
pedestal  of  its  grateful  heart,  especially  if  they 
knew  the  years  of  unpopularity  he  suffered  be- 
cause of  outspoken  insistence  upon  justice  to  all, 
even  to  the  extent  of  defending  a  Jew  wrongfully 
accused  of  ritual  murder. 

Thomas  Garrigues  Masaryk  (note  the  middle 
name,  for  upon  his  marriage  in  1878  to  a  New 

[191] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Yorker,  he  incorporated  her  name  with  his)   is  a 
profound  scholar  and  longtime  professor  of  phi- 
losophy, languages  and  government,  and  perhaps 
even  better  still,  a  Slovak,  for  a  Slovak  at  the  head 
of  this  new  amalgam  of  Slavs  means  that  the  de- 
fence of  minority  representation  will  always  have 
a  friend  in  him.    Also  it  is  of  good  omen  that  his 
pupil  and  loyal  friend  Eduard  Benes,  appointed 
by  him  as  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  is  a  Czech, 
Could  there  be  a  happier  combination  than  that  of 
this  serious  mature  professor  of  Prague  Univer- 
sity, deeply  schooled  in  the  theory  of  representa- 
tive government,  with  a  devoted  younger  friend, 
active,  practical,  resourceful,  with  answers  always 
flashing  out  for  every  new  difficulty  constantly 
arising   in    so   new   and   untried   a  republic.     If 
any  one  doubts  the  immediate  future  of  Czecho- 
slovakia,  let  him  journey  to  Prague   and  gain 
speech  with  its  two  forceful  and  beloved  leaders. 
I  had  had  the  privilege  of  meeting  Dr.  Benes 
in  Paris  and  knew  the  high  opinion  in  which  he 
was  held  by  men  like  Briand  and  Lloyd  George. 
But  Benes  at  the  Hotel  Meurice,  Rue  de  Rivoli, 
is  very  different  from  Benes  seated  in  the  ancient 
palace    of   the    Hapsburgs    atop    of    steep-sided 
[192] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

Hradchin  heights,  looking  out  over  Prague  and 
miles  beyond  of  a  freed  homeland  for  which  he 
and  his  loved  master  laboured  through  so  many- 
years  of  exile!  Here  was  the  real  Benes,  Czech 
to  his  fingertips,  a  swift  direct  answer  for  every 
question,  a  talker  who  fairly  "bored  in,"  as  boxers 
say,  when  developing  a  thought.  His  foreign 
policy  is  "justice  to  all  neighbours,"  and  with  him 
and  his  compatriots  this  can  be  no  empty  political 
phrase;  it  behoves  the  Czechs  to  remember  what 
they  owe  to  the  Allies,  and  yet  they  must  not  for- 
get that  over  half  Czecho-Slovakia's  trade  is  with 
powerful  Germany  alongside.  In  case  of  trouble 
Allied  fleets  could  not  instantly  aid  a  mid-Eu- 
ropean Republic  as  they  could  Greece  or  some 
other  sea-bordering  land.  There  are  problems  in 
plenty  in  every  branch  of  government  for  those 
untried  Czecho-Slavs,  whose  peoples  have  been 
trained  for  centuries  by  Austrian  oppressors  to 
be,  like  the  Irish,  "agin  the  government." 

Indeed,  this  political  attitude  of  mind  has  be- 
come so  inbred  as  to  make  them  now  unduly  criti- 
cal of  their  own  government,  entirely  home-bred 
and  home-made  though  it  be.  It  is  a  silly  criticism 
sometimes  heard  in  Europe  that  Czecho- Slovakia 

[193] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

seems  a  bureaucracy  that  is  not  working.  How 
could  a  people  long  denied  the  smallest  portion  of 
self-government  be  expected  to  begin  as  finished 
experts  in  that  intricate  science?  Look  at  the 
French  for  the  first  few  years  succeeding  their 
Revolution!  We  Americans  are  given  to  boasting 
about  how  excellently  our  republic  functioned 
from  its  very  beginnings,  but  we  forget  that  we 
fought  England  not  to  gain  our  liberty,  but  to 
retain  a  liberty  which  George  Ill's  new  tax  laws 
would  have  taken  from  us.  Our  government  had 
already  long  functioned  before  our  separation 
from  the  British  Crown. 

The  chief  problems  confronting  Czecho- Slovakia, 
— those  arising  from  inequalities  in  the  education 
and  difference  in  religion  of  its  constituent  parts 
came  picturesquely  to  my  attention  from  an  ac- 
quaintance made  during  an  episode  at  Tetschen, 
their  frontier  town  facing  Saxon  Germanj?-.  The 
German  Customs  officials  there  held  up  two 
American  soldiers  trying  to  enter  Germany  after 
a  holiday  in  Czecho- Slovakia,  because  their  pass- 
ports lacked  German  visas.  These  two  bellicose 
youngsters  decided  that  their  officer's  permission 
to  travel  was  all  they  needed,  so  they  fell  upon 
[194] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

the  Germans  and  at  first  routed  them.  Numbers 
in  the  end  proved  too  much  for  their  valour,  and 
a  Czecho-Slovak  officer,  desiring  to  befriend  them, 
called  me  in  to  help  get  them  released.  Inquiry- 
revealed  that  they  had  been  visiting  the  Slovakian 
uncle  of  one  youthful  soldier  drafted  while  work- 
ing on  a  farm  near  Zanesville,  Ohio.  Their  ac- 
count of  backward  Slovakian  conditions,  as  viewed 
from  an  Ohio  angle,  differed  so  widely  from  what 
I  had  just  been  seeing  in  progressive  Prague  as 
to  explain  why  statesmen  in  that  capital  had 
thought-furrowed  foreheads. 

In  Prague  is  a  University  dating  from  1348, 
the  Sorbonne  of  eastern  Europe,  long  the  centre 
not  only  of  a  widely  spreading  education  among 
the  Czechs  but  also  an  hearthstone  upon  which 
was  kept  alight  the  flame  of  their  national  spirit. 
Slovakia,  in  the  meantime,  by  deliberate  effort  of 
the  Austro-Hungarian  government,  was  kept  as 
illiterate  as  possible.  My  Zanesville  soldier  had 
gone  to  his  Slovakian  uncle's  home  to  spend  two 
weeks,  but,  said  he  "two  days  did  me  nicely!  They 
had  a  big  fire  the  day  I  arrived,  but  instead  of 
calling  out  the  village  fire  department,  they 
marched   a   sacred   image   round   and   round   the 

[195] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

burning  house  till  there  was  nothing  left  to  burn; 
— what  do  you  know  about  that!  They  are  too 
far  behind  the  times  to  hold  me,  so  I  beat  it." 

There  you  have  the  picture,  a  nation  in  which 
there  are  two  and  a  half  milUon  intensely  re- 
ligious but  generally  ilhterate  Slovaks,  and  seven 
million  Czechs  well  provided  with  schools  from 
primary  grade  up  to  University,  but  loose  in  al- 
legiance to  Mother  Church.  Fortunately  the 
Moravians  living  in  between  these  differing  ele- 
ments afford  a  connecting  racial  link,  while  all  the 
fourteen  million  Slav  folk  making  up  this  new 
republic  possess  an  intense  national  spirit, — thanks 
to  Austrian  oppression.  Indeed,  to  all  these  va- 
ried citizens  of  a  common  country,  the  very  word 
Austrian  means  oppressive  rulers.  Take  Jonescu, 
the  Roumanian  Prime  Minister,  once  said:  "There 
is  no  Austrian  nation, — there  is  only  an  Austrian 
caste."  President  Masaryk  wrote  that  his  land 
used  to  have  "the  social  structure  of  a  conquered 
country." 

The  greatest  product  for  any  State  is  states- 
men, and  in  that  field  Czecho-Slovakia  has  already 
justified  its  existence.    Here  also  is  a  country  not 
only  the  best  educated  of  all  the  Slavs  but  also  the 
[196] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

most  practical,  shown  both  in  their  factories  and 
farms.     We  have  noted  that  within  her  present 
confines  were  located  nearly  eighty  per  cent  of  all 
the   factories  in  Austro-Hungary ;   she   also   had 
forty  per  cent  of  its  tilled  land.     "Every  one  of 
our  companies  before  the  war  was  forced  to  have 
its  office  in  Vienna,  but  that  is  all  over  forever!'* 
exclaimed  Jan  Masaryk,  the  strong-eyed  upstand- 
ing half- American  son  of  the  President,  proud  of 
the  fact  that  he  pushed  a  wheelbarrow  for  one 
seventy-five   a   day   in   Bridgeport,    and   that  he 
worked  five  years  for  Crane  and  Company  in  Chi- 
cago, a  scion  of  which  house,  Richard  Crane,  was 
our  first  Minister  in  Prague.     No,  the  Austrian 
milking  of  the  Czechish  cow  is  over.     She  must, 
however,  remember  that  German  capital  controls 
many  of  her  industries! 

A  sensible  socialism  came  in  along  with  the  new 
regime  in  Prague,  with  all  that  means  of  an  eight- 
hour  labour  law,  of  national  insurance  for  health 
and  accident,  old  age  pensions,  etc.,  all  built  upon 
a  constitution  combining  the  best  features  of  ours 
and  of  the  French.  Equal  suffrage  for  both  sexes 
and  a  secret  ballot  for  everybody.  In  the  old  days 
one-third  of  all  the  land  was  held  by  the  nobles, 

[197] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

who  almost  always  farmed  it  out  to  Jewish  or 
other  contractors.  Absentee  landlordism  tells  the 
same  story  in  all  languages!  The  republic  has 
taken  over,  upon  compensation,  all  real  estate  ex- 
ceeding 300  acres  per  person  of  improved  land  or 
500  acres  of  unimproved,  in  order  to  provide  small 
holdings  for  ex-soldiers  and  other  worthy  folk.  To 
none  more  than  to  these  soldiers  is  this  due,  for 
by  their  gallantry  and  steadiness,  not  only  in  many 
an  Allied  army  in  Europe  but  also  as  a  separate 
force  in  Siberia  did  they  win  for  their  race  such 
wide  confidence  as  to  ensure  its  independence. 

Prague  used  to  be  a  stronghold  of  Hussite  Prot- 
estantism, from  which  it  spread  widely.  Then 
came  the  terrible  defeat  of  the  White  Mountain  in 
1620,  and  the  Roman  Catholicism  of  the  con- 
querors was  imposed  upon  the  people.  Statistics 
show  that  only  one  million  of  them  are  now  Prot- 
estants while  nearly  nine  million  are  Roman  Catho- 
lics, but  "all  is  not  gold  that  glitters."  A  promi- 
nent Czechish  official  of  the  Foreign  Office  told  me 
that  his  Roman  Catholic  mother  had  not  been  to 
confession  for  fifteen  years! 

The  priests  of  Bohemia  formally  petitioned  the 
Pope  for  nationalisation  of  the  clergy,  so  that  na- 
[198] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

tives  might  be  appointed  to  the  chief  sees,  for  per- 
mission to  conduct  sendee  in  the  national  lan- 
guage, and  for  abolition  of  cehbacy.  If  the  atti- 
tude of  the  priests  is  so  advanced,  what  must  we 
conclude  is  the  laity's  state  of  mind?  This 
Czechish  swing  against  church  shows  signs  of 
turning  against  all  religion,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  wiser  counsels  will  prevail,  and  that  in  this 
regard  as  in  many  others,  they  will  follow  their 
leader  Masaryk,  who  is  as  profoundly  religious  as 
was  our  own  Lincoln. 

We  must  not  leave  Czecho- Slovakia  without  re- 
ferring to  the  fact  that  although  most  of  her 
mountains  protect  her  certain  others  of  them  are 
rather  a  nuisance.  For  instance,  to  go  from 
Prague  to  Slovakia,  lying  east  of  her,  the  railway 
does  not  go  east  but  is  forced  by  mountains  to 
drop  down  to  Bratislava  (formerly  Pressburg)  on 
the  Danube  and  then  up  again  into  Slovakia. 
From  Slovakia  to  Ruthenia  on  the  east  there  is 
no  railway  at  all.  The  Ruthenians  live  in  the  high 
valleys  of  the  Carpathians  which,  unfortunately, 
don't  open  westward  toward  Slovakia,  but  all 
drain  southward  into  the  great  Hungarian  plain. 
Economically  the  Ruthenians  are  cut  off  by  moun- 

[199] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

tains  from  the  rest  of  Czecho-Slovakia,  but  have 
always  been  closely  tied  up  with  the  plain  dwellers 
to  their  south.  The  Ruthenian  peasant  used  to 
go  down  every  year  to  help  with  the  Hungarian 
grain  harvest  and  returning  to  his  mountain  home 
with  his  wages  in  foodstuffs,  live  comfortably  till 
the  next  harvest.  Now  the  new  frontier  restric- 
tions intervene  between  him  and  his  summer  em- 
ployment; he  cannot  longer  get  his  winter  supplies 
in  the  old  way.  He  is  badly  off,  and  he  complains 
of  it  loudly. 

The  Versailles  geography  factory  reported  that 
in  plebiscite  the  Ruthenians  declared  for  associa- 
tion with  the  new  Czecho-Slovak  State,  but  in- 
quiry reveals  that  the  plebiscite  was  held  by  the 
Ruthenian  emigrants  living  around  Pittsburg,  be- 
cause the  lower  state  of  education  in  Ruthenia  and 
the  difficulty  attending  collection  there  of  votes 
just  after  the  war  made  it  preferable  for  the  ques- 
tion to  be  answered  by  their  overseas  kin!  Some- 
how or  other,  this  answer  does  not  nowadays  sat- 
isfy the  local  stay-at-home  Ruthenian,  thinking 
longingly  of  his  former  profitable  employment  in 
the  Hungarian  harvests.  Look  at  a  mountain 
[200] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— NORTHERN  DAM 

marked  map,  and  you  will  see  the  economic  fix  he 
is  in. 

So  much  for  the  northerly  dam  and  now  for  the 
southerly  one,  beginning  with  its  westerly  or 
Serbian  half. 


[201] 


CHAPTER  VII:  THE  PETITE  ENTENTE 
—THE  SOUTHERN  DAM 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PETITE  ENTENTE — THE  SOUTHERN  DAM 

OF  all  the  smaller  European  Powers  none 
gained  more  in  importance,  in  population  of 
the  same  stock,  and  in  territory  than  those  South- 
ern Slavs,  the  Serbs.  None  have  more  right  to 
be  proud  of  their  dogged  valour  in  war  or  of  their 
heroic  endurance  of  national  misfortune,  com- 
pletely overrun  as  they  were  by  the  Germanic 
armies.  If  they  proved  boastful  in  the  day  of  vic- 
tory it  would  be  only  natural,  but  instead  of  that 
what  does  one  see  in  the  Prime  Minister's  office  at 
Belgrade  as  the  only  other  adornment  of  its  walls 
beside  the  King's  portrait?  Some  map  showing 
the  enlarged  boundaries  of  the  now  great  State? 
Some  battle  picture  showing  victory  crowning  the 
Serbian  arms?  Not  at  all,  only  an  enlarged  photo- 
graph of  a  scene  marking  the  lowest  ebb  of  Ser- 
bia's fortune,  the  saddest  moment  of  her  darkest 
day — the  aged  King  Peter,  after  a  gallantly- 
fought  retreat  across  his  own  country,  leading  his 
Staff  over  the  ancient  Roman  bridge  connecting 

[205] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

the  last  remaining)  corner  of  German-infested 
Serbia  with  Albania  to  which  he  was  driven  in 
exile,  a  defeated  leader  of  a  beaten  army,  expelled 
from  their  homeland,  perhaps  never  to  return. 

I  don't  know  when  I  have  been  so  impressed  as 
by  the  sight  of  that  picture; — it  meant  so  much 
of  the  right  sort  of  national  pride.  Then  too  I 
was  struck  by  the  modesty  and  simplicity  of  the 
office,  for  it  is  much  the  smallest  and  most  unpre- 
tentious of  any  in  all  Europe.  Perhaps  this  is  but 
natural,  for  Serbia  is  truly  called  a  "peasant  king- 
dom," a  land  in  which  there  are  few  rich  or  very 
poor,  where  life,  even  in  Belgrade,  the  capital,  is 
of  the  simplest. 

It  is  said  there  are  only  four  modern  bathrooms 
in  Belgrade,  but  that  is  perhaps  more  endurable 
than  the  unmodernity  of  the  lumpy  cobblestones 
that  make  locomotion  through  the  streets  so  uncom- 
fortable. The  Serbs  call  their  capital  Beograd, 
which  means  the  White  City,  the  reason  for  which 
is  easily  seen  if  on  the  way  out  to  Topscheider 
Park  one  looks  back  on  the  whitened  stucco  of  the 
massed  houses.  Rude  tourists  sometimes  allege 
that  the  name  really  comes  from  the  clouds  of 
[206] 


a<^ 


y^ 


t^^^^-^z-fZf  /, 


^     ~iif\  J^* 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

white  dust  that  envelop  everything  except  when 
rain  turns  them  temporarily  to  mud. 

One  of  my  most  charming  European  memories 
is  that  of  the  view  just  at  sunset  from  lofty 
Kalemegdan  Park,  just  where  hilly  Belgrade  cul- 
minates at  the  old  citadel,  down  over  the  junction 
below  of  the  river  Save  with  the  slow  rolHng 
Danube.  Here  I  heard  the  whole  tale  of  how  the 
Austrian  batteries  on  the  plain  below  across  the 
river  bombarded  the  city  preliminary  to  the  suc- 
cessful crossing  of  the  stream  and  attack  by  two 
unsuspected  divisions  of  German  storm  troops  se- 
cretly brought  from  the  Russian  front.  The  Eng- 
lish and  the  French  batteries  supporting  the  gal- 
lant but  war-worn  Serbian  infantry  stood  off  the 
Germans  for  three  days,  but  finally  had  to  fall 
back  and  begin  that  long  series  of  hard  fought 
rear-guard  battles  that  ended  in  the  picture  on  the 
Prime  Minister's  wall. 

The  religious  question  is  as  vexing  in  Jugo- 
slavia as  we  found  it  in  Czecho-Slovakia,  for  in 
the  former  we  have  the  Roman  Catholic  Croats 
and  Slovenes  united  in  new  political  bonds  to  the 
Serbs  of  the  "Orthodox"  or  Greek  Catholic 
Church,  the  former  two  using  Roman  letters  of 

[209] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

the  alphabet,  while  the  Serbs  cling  to  the  Cyrillic, 
which  is  similar  to  the  Russian,  both  descended 
from  the  Greek  and  therefore  supported  by  the 
Greek  faith  which  both  embrace.  Nor  are  the 
Serbs  content  with  their  own  use  of  Cyrillic,  for 
since  the  larger  kingdom  came  into  existence, 
Cyrilhc  signs  have  been  added  to  all  railway  sta- 
tions, even  where  the  local  folk  could  not  read 
them. 

Here  also  the  local  Roman  Catholic  clergy, 
notably  those  of  Slovenia,  have  taken  an  advanced 
stand  with  the  Vatican,  and  possibly  out  of  their 
efforts  will  result  a  national  church  assimilating 
the  Greek  Catholics  of  Serbia  with  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  Croatia  and  Slovenia  in  a  national 
church  permitting  the  use  of  the  vernacular  in- 
stead of  Latin  in  the  mass,  etc.,  but  acknowledg- 
ing the  supremacy  of  the  Pope. 

Jugo-Slavia  also  faces  the  same  educational 
problem  as  Czecho-Slovakia,  in  that  Serbia  proper 
has  nearly  eighty  per  cent  of  its  people  illiterate, 
which  makes  the  better  educated  Croats  and 
Slovenes  all  the  more  restless  under  too  great  a 
centralisation  of  power  in  Belgrade. 

To  meet  this  situation  and  to  grant  greater  local 
[210] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

autonomy  the  central  government  has  decided  to 
set  up  local  parliaments,  but  for  this  purpose  is 
creating  arbitrarily  fixed  districts  of  about  six 
hundred  thousand  each.  This  step  is  hardly  pleas- 
ing to  the  Croats,  Slovenes,  Bosnians  and  Herze- 
govinians,  who  would  prefer  local  autonomy  on  the 
lines  of  their  old  provinces,  and  suspect  this  new 
plan  as  intended  to  break  them  up,  and  thus  leave 
control  in  Serb  hands  at  Belgrade. 

In  one  respect  Jugo-Slavia  strongly  resembles 
Czecho-Slovakia, — the  Itahan  peril  provides  the 
former  with  the  same  cement  that  memory  of  the 
old  Austrian  tyranny  does  for  the  latter.  The 
persistence  with  which  certain  Italians  have  pushed 
the  Fiume  question  is  greatly  aiding  the  young 
Jugo-Slav  nationahty  to  carry  on  during  their 
first  years  of  development — a  period  always  critical, 
as  we  Americans  know  better  than  most  people. 

Among  people  who  have  never  visited  Jugo- 
slavia, or  at  least  not  recently,  one  hears  frequent 
expressions  of  preference  for  that  title  to  the  more 
sonorous  official  one  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Serbs, 
Croats  and  Slovenes,  or  even  Greater  Serbia.  The 
fact  is  that  the  whole  problem  of  this  new  coun- 
try's future  is  wrapped  up  in  this  question  of 

[211] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

name.  Briefly,  if  the  longer  title  persists  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  words,  giving  federated  recognition  to 
all  its  new  parts,  the  future  of  the  whole  seems 
bright.  Also  it  must  be  noted,  that  with  such  a 
name  and  such  a  recognition  of  minority  rights, 
it  is  more  than  possible  that  Bulgaria  might  come 
into  this  confederation  of  the  southern  Slavs, 
something  she  would  never  do  if  there  prevailed 
the  name  of  Greater  Serbia. 

Already  many  Pan-Serbs,  within  and  without 
the  country,  maintain  that  Croatia  and  Slovenia 
are  merely  annexed  to  Serbia,  not  federated  with 
it,  and  that  it  is  Serbia  that  should  dominate  the 
whole,  just  as  Prussia  controlled  the  German  Em- 
pire at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  They  should  learn 
from  that  war's  results,  or  else  they  will  go  the 
same  way  the  Germans  went  under  the  militaristic 
lead  of  the  Prussians.  If  the  federation  idea 
works  out,  and  perhaps  broadens  into  a  United 
States  of  the  South  Slavs,  and  Bulgaria  comes  in 
with  the  three  already  assembled  in  Jugo-Slavia, 
the  Balkan  problem  is  on  the  high  road  to  solution. 
Otherwise  not,  for  the  Croats  and  Slovenes  will 
soon  come  to  be  as  little  satisfied  with  mili- 
tarist control  by  Serbs  as  they  were  in  the  past 
[212] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

with  Turkish  and  then  Austrian,  and  so  will  the 
Bosnian,  Herzegovinian  or  Dalmatian  elements  of 
this  newly  grouped  nation. 

Just  as  Pashich  and  his  Pan-Serb  supporters 
have  from  the  beginning  laboured  for  a  Serbising 
of  Croatia  and  Slovenia,  so  has  the  new  King 
Alexander,  even  while  Prince  Regent  during  the 
last  years  of  his  father  King  Peter,  always  stood 
out  for  the  federated  rights  of  the  minorities. 

So  well  is  this  known  that  one  may  say  that  he 
and  his  house,  the  Karageorgeviches,  supply  the 
same  symbol  of  union  between  the  Greek  Catholic 
Serbs  and  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  other 
groups  that  the  British  Crown  provides  for  the 
British  Empire, — the  same  golden  thread  to  bind 
dissimilar  parts  together.  Son  of  a  father  who 
gallantly  served  with  the  French  in  the  war  of 
1870,  and  himself  a  wearer  of  the  coveted  French 
Medaille  JNIilitaire  for  bravery,  there  is  no  doubt 
where  the  sagacious  sovereign  would  stand  if  later 
on  the  Furor  Teutonicus  should  threaten  the  in- 
dependence of  south  Central  Europe. 

In  passing,  here  is  a  political  anecdote  of  useful 
significance,  as  frequently  denied  in  Belgrade  as 
it  is  frequently  recounted.    When  the  new  union 

[213] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

was  formed  Pashich  submitted  to  the  Prince  Re- 
gent a  list  of  names  for  Ministers  in  the  first 
Cabinet,  with  himself  as  Prime  Minister.  "I  ac- 
cept all  the  names  but  one,"  said  the  Prince,  "and 
that  one  is  yours."  He  knew  of  Pashich's  wish 
for  Serbian  domination  of  the  new  combination  of 
south  Slavs  and  disapproved  of  it.  Pashich's 
friends  will  now  tell  you  that  he  was  tricked  hito 
that  position  of  supporting  the  annexation  as  op- 
posed to  the  federated  policy,  but  a  face  to  face 
talk  with  him  leaves  the  impression  that  it  is  he 
and  not  others,  that  makes  up  his  mind.  Pashich's 
friends  will  also  tell  you  that  when  he  was  shown 
the  seat  allotted  to  him  at  the  Versailles  Confer- 
ence he  found  before  him  a  card  marked  "Serbian 
Delegation."  He  promptly  drew  his  pencil 
through  it  and  wrote  below  "Delegation  of  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Slovenes,  Croats  and  Serbs." 
Each  day  on  his  arrival  he  would  find  a  new  card 
marked  "Serbian  Delegation,"  and  each  day  he 
would  go  through  the  same  rite  of  erasure  and 
substitution. 

It  is  said  that  the  average  Serb  is  incapable  of 
keeping  a  secret,  but  here  is  one  who  carries  dis- 
cretion to  an  extreme.     When  King  Milan  sent 
[214] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

Pashich  to  Petrograd  for  a  conference  with  the 
Russian  Minister  Sazonoff,  he  knew  perfectly 
well  that  on  Pashich's  return  he  would  keep  all 
the  details  of  the  interview  to  himself,  so  the 
King  sent  another  man  with  him  in  order  to 
learn  fully  what  was  said.  That  man  is  still  a 
Serb  official,  but  there  is  no  record  of  Pashich 
having  ever  advanced  him!  Oddly  enough, 
Pashich  calls  himself  and  his  party  Radical,  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact  he  is  by  way  of  being  Conserva- 
tive. He  took  the  title  back  in  the  days  when  he 
was  opposing  King  Milan's  autocratic  rule,  and 
demanding  a  change  from  autocracy  to  a  consti- 
tutional monarchy.  That  monarch  of  the  old 
school  had  such  a  way  of  calling  his  Cabinet  to- 
gether late  at  night  and  then  suddenly  dismissing 
them  from  office  that  they  got  the  nickname  of 
"midnight  Cabinets."  On  one  occasion  he  decided 
not  only  to  replace  but  also  to  imprison  them. 
Pashich,  who  was  then  in  office,  heard  of  the 
King's  amiable  intention  during  the  afternoon  and 
escaped  across  the  river  into  Austria,  before  the 
night  meeting  assembled.  He  began  his  career  as 
an  engineer,  as  did  his  friend  and  fellow  veteran 
(they  are  both  78),  the  Patriarch  of  the  Serb 

[215] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Greek  or  Orthodox  Church.  Pashich's  long  white 
beard  and  highly  intelligent  face  would  fit  him 
equally  well  to  head  the  church  or  the  nation  In 
French  he  speaks  very  slowly  and  deliberately,  but 
in  German  he  is  quite  at  home  and  talks  easily 
and  confidently,  as  befits  one  of  his  power  and 
experience. 

During  our  conversation,  knowing  him  to  be  a 
Russophile,  I  commented  that  such  a  policy  on 
the  part  of  Jugo-Slavia  might  one  day  prove  a 
great  asset  for  the  Allies,  for  if  and  when  Ger- 
many and  Russia  regained  their  economic  feet,  his 
would  be  the  only  hold  upon  Russian  friendship 
able  to  avert  an  anti- Allies  combination  between 
Russia   and   Germany.     He   enlarged   upon   the 
Russian  question,  approving  strongly  of  America's 
policy  of  "hands  off"  in  Russia  and  respect  for  the 
integrity  of  her  territory.     Not  only  is  he  deter- 
mined that  his  country  do  not  interfere  in  poor 
Russia's  disordered  affairs,  but  also  he  insists  that 
the  40,000  Russian  refugees  now  in  Serbia  like- 
wise refrain  from  political  activities  in  their  home- 
land.    One  sees  Russian  uniforms  everywhere  in 
the  streets,  chiefly  those  of  Wrangel's  army,  and 
it  is  said  that  there  are  no  less  than  450  Russian 
[216] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

generals  in  Belgrade,  so  Pashich's  policy  inter- 
dicting interference  in  Russian  politics  is  clearly 
a  wise  one.  He  doubts  Germans  gaining  the 
ascendency  in  Russia,  "unless,"  said  he,  "the  wheel 
of  fate  should  put  both  a  Kaiser  and  a  Czar  back 
on  the  throne," — whereupon  he  smiled! 

And  now  for  the  easterly  half  of  the  southern 
dam,  Roumania.  One's  first  impressions  upon  ar- 
riving at  Bucharest  depend  largely  upon  whether 
one  comes  from  Belgrade  or  Sofia  or  Budapest. 
It  is  better  to  arrive  from  the  two  former,  for  if 
one  has  seen  Budapest,  a  fine  European  capital, 
there  will  be  a  feehng  of  disappointment.  Buch- 
arest, gay,  lively,  with  its  modern  broad  boule- 
vards deserted,  but  its  narrow  twisting  inner 
streets  crowded  with  bustling  throngs,  is  strangely 
hke  the  older  parts  of  Buenos  Aires,  before  the 
boom  there  raised  its  population  from  a  miUion 
to  two  millions. 

Bucharest's  most  popular  thoroughfare,  wrig- 
ghng  through  its  busiest  sections,  is  named  Calle 
Victoriei,  just  as  the  streets  of  the  Argentine 
capital  are  called  calle.  Architecturally,  the  low 
stucco  houses,  seldom  exceeding  two  stories,  are 
exactly  like  those  of  older  Buenos  Aires.     So  too 

[217] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

in  both  those  cities  one  sees  everywhere  httle 
fiacres  drawn  by  two  horses,  but  if  one  looks  at 
the  driver  the  picture  changes — you  are  far  from 
distant  Argentina,  back  in  a  world  where  the 
Slavs  have  the  upper  hand.  On  the  boxes  of 
Bucharest's  fiacres  you  will  be  surprised  to  see  the 
moujiks  you  used  to  see  driving  droskys  in  Petro- 
grad — the  same  short-waisted,  long-skirted  coats, 
heavily  padded  at  back,  breast  and  shoulders — ^the 
same  straight-armed  leaning-back  pull  on  the  hur- 
rying little  horses — the  same  broad-featured  Slav 
faces ! 

Not  only  does  the  city  look  crowded  but  it 
is  crowded.  Before  the  war  its  buildings  accom- 
modated a  population  of  300,000,  but  now  800,000 
are  trying  to  live  there.  The  large  increase  of 
Roumania's  territory  decreed  at  Versailles,  giving 
her  Bessarabia,  Transylvania,  etc.,  has  greatly  in- 
creased the  political  significance  of  her  capital. 
Politicians  naturally  flocked  there  in  great  num- 
bers. 

A  foreign  friend  of  Roumania  remarked  to  me 
that  it  would  benefit  her  people  if  they  could  re- 
ceive the  same  treatment  accorded  to  the  Israelites 
by  Moses  when  they  came  out  of  Egypt.    It  will 
[218] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

be  remembered  that  he  led  them  about  in  the 
wilderness  for  forty  years,  giving  time  for  old 
prejudices  to  die  out  and  especially  for  all  the  old 
politicians  to  die  off,  so  that  they  entered  the 
Promised  Land  under  new  leaders,  with  all  the 
old  national  prejudices  outgrown.  Even  Moses 
himself  only  saw  the  Promised  Land  from  afar! 
Like  every  American  I  like  politics,  but  I  never 
saw  so  much  of  them  as  Bucharest  is  now  enjoy- 
ing. 

Coming  as  I  did  from  Belgrade,  a  smaller  and 
less  pretentious  capital,  Bucharest,  and  especially 
its  newer  hotels,  seemed  very  attractive.  Indeed, 
the  whole  city  has  an  undeniable  charm.  Perhaps 
the  greatest  contrast  between  any  two  features  of 
the  two  capitals  is  that  afforded  by  their  respective 
Foreign  Offices.  The  one  at  Belgrade  is  far  and 
away  the  smallest  and  most  modest  in  all  Europe, 
while  that  in  Bucharest  is  the  most  elaborately 
housed  of  them  all.  The  spacious  palace  it  occu- 
pies is  located  in  ample  grounds  overlooking  a 
large  circle  where  many  streets  converge.  Its 
atmosphere  is  redolent  of  the  traditions  of  Eu- 
ropean diplomacy  of  the  old  school — tout  ce  qvfil 
y  a  de  vietLOO  jeu! 

[219] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

At  its  head  is  the  pohshed,  witty,  quick-minded 
Take  Jonescu,  a  clever  writer  and  a  keen  judge 
of  just  how  poHtical  cats  are  going  to  jump, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad.  He  knows  Europe  as 
do  few  of  its  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  is 
frequently  to  be  seen  travelling  about,  learning 
the  state  of  public  opinion  in  more  than  one  foreign 
centre.  Of  course  he  is  most  in  Paris,  because  the 
growing  influence  of  France  throughout  all  south- 
eastern Europe  is  a  movement  of  great  signifi- 
cance to  all  its  chanceries.  "Take,"  as  he  is  popu- 
larly called  at  home  (to  bear  a  nickname  is  a  good 
political  sign,  as  millions  of  American  lovers  of 
"Teddy"  Roosevelt  will  testify),  prophesied  in 
1914  that  America  would  sooner  or  later  come  into 
the  war  on  the  side  of  the  Alhes,  and  he  also  pre- 
dicted that  the  hegemony  of  the  white  race  would 
pass  to  the  United  States,  which  remains  to  be 
seen,  even  for  the  most  optimistic  get-rich-quick 
American.  Roumania  is  one  of  the  richest  coun- 
tries in  the  world  in  natural  resources,  and  gov- 
ernment concessions  to  develop  them  are  strong 
cards  for  Take  Jonescu  to  play  on  his  travels, 
especially  the  one  marked  "oil  fields."  An  editor 
of  the  London  Times  told  me  that  once  upon  a 
[220] 


PETITE  ENTENTE—SOUTHERN  DAM 

time  when  Take  used  to  be  its  correspondent,  he 
was  cheeked  up  for  reporting  his  opinions  upon  a 
certain  episode  rather  than  the  facts  themselves. 
Perhaps  that  sort  of  a  training  explains  why  he  is 
that  rare  type  of  statesman — one  who  never  fools 
himself! 

All  southeastern  Europeans,  especially  those  of 
the  newly  created  or  enlarged  states,  realise  the 
importance  to  them  of  Allied  support,  and  there- 
fore have  viewed  with  concern  the  slowly  widen- 
ing divergence  of  opinion  between  France  and 
England  upon  several  subjects. 

Take  Jonescu  talks  quite  freely  about  the  im- 
portance not  only  of  continued  Anglo-French 
friendship,  but  also  of  the  desirability  of  America 
coming  into  closer  business  relations  with  his  coun- 
try, even  if  it  cannot  link  up  politically  with  the 
League  of  Nations.  Perhaps  he  might  be  willing 
to  play  some  of  his  best  cards  with  us,  say  for 
example  the  one  covering  oil  concessions, — who 
knows!  He  is  certainly  a  most  engaging  talker, 
and  in  the  easy  flow  of  his  remarks,  one  frequently 
sees  through  to  a  rock  bottom  of  studied  wisdom, 
in  which,  however,  he  seems  to  take  less  pride  than 
in  his  skill  at  deft  turns  of  policy. 

[221] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

There  is  no  denying  that  Roumanians  of  this 
type  are  unusually  pleasing  in  manner,  and  espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  Jonel  Bratianu,  more  than 
once  Prime  Minister,  and  easily  one  of  the  most 
charming  Europeans  to  hold  that  high  office. 
His  strong,  striking,  if  not  handsome  features 
light  up  frequently  with  a  smile  that  must  be  a 
political  asset,  and  his  artistically  disarranged  hair 
shows  a  touch  of  grey  that  is  less  indicative  of  ex- 
perience than  are  his  comments  on  men  and  events. 
There  are  few  men,  not  French,  who  possess  such 
a  graceful  turn  of  phrase  in  that  language  of 
diplomacy.  Obviously  he  is  a  writer,  you  say,  and 
perhaps  even  a  savant,  for  such  well  rounded  sen- 
tences can  only  come  after  much  thinking.  He 
speaks  in  French  with  the  same  ease  of  phrase  that 
President  Wilson  employs  in  English.  Don't 
think  that  Bratianu  is  only  a  maker  of  pleasing 
phrases,  for  nothing  could  be  more  brutally  frank 
than  his  description  of  the  present  deplorable 
financial  condition  of  his  country,  and  his  contrast 
of  the  present  state  of  affairs  with  that  prevailing 
before  the  war.  He  believes  in  facing  facts,  but 
dark  as  they  now  are  he  gave  good  reasons  for  be- 
lieving that  their  economic  remedy  is  available, 
[222] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

and  is  not  far  off.  Evidently  he  is  a  man  of 
courage,  a  reeogniser  of  difficulties,  and  one  eager 
to  attack  them. 

It  is  owing  to  a  few  far-sighted  men  like  him 
that  Roumania  is  the  one  Petite  Entente  countiy 
that  is  going  forward  to  meet  the  problem  caused 
by  new  provinces  joining  the  nation.  Better  than 
the  Czechs  and  the  Serbs  is  she  realising  that  her 
new  citizens  must  have  high  places  given  their 
representatives  in  the  government,  and  that  the 
represented  must  be  made  to  feel  at  home  in  their 
new  political  brotherhood.  The  coronation  of  the 
King  is  to  take  place,  not  in  Bucharest,  but  in 
Transylvania,  one  of  the  new  provinces.  Already 
there  is  one  Transylvanian  in  the  Cabinet  and  in 
the  new  adjustment  soon  to  take  place,  more  port- 
folios will  be  held  by  Transylvanians. 

Let  us  glance  at  certain  of  the  Petite  Entente's 
neighbours.  There  is  in  several  quarters,  and 
some  of  them  high  up  and  well  informed,  much 
misunderstanding  as  to  Poland's  relations  with  the 
Petite  Entente.  The  Roumanians  want  to  have 
her  in,  indeed  some  of  them  seem  to  feel  she  has 
already  joined.  Take  Jonescu,  the  Roumanian 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  says  he  has  the  same 

[223] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

alliances  with  her  that  he  has  with  his  two  part- 
ners in  the  Entente,  and  when  I  talked  with 
Bratianu  in  Bucharest,  that  "Elder  Statesman" 
seemed  to  assume  that  of  course  Poland  was  al- 
ready a  member.  Neither  of  those  men  seemed  to 
take  sufficiently  into  account  the  strong  Russo- 
philism  dominating  the  Foreign  Office  at  Bel- 
grade, which  would  prevent  the  Greek  Church 
Serbs  from  joining  any  new  compact  guaranteeing 
Poland  in  continued  possession  of  the  territory  she 
obtained  from  Russia. 

French  writers  all  predict  that  Poland  will 
sooner  or  later  be  taken  into  the  Petite  Entente, — 
but  will  she? 

The  Powers  signing  the  Versailles  Treaty  agree 
by  the  terms  of  its  Article  X  to  unite  in  defend- 
ing against  aggressors  all  boundaries  there  fixed. 
Thus  far  will  the  Petite  Entente  undoubtedly  go 
in  friendly  assistance  to  Poland.  But  Poland,  by 
certain  acts,  as  for  example  her  taking  of  Vilna 
on  Lithuanian  soil,  has  gone  beyond  those  boun- 
daries. Would  the  countries  of  the  Little  En- 
tente undertake  joint  responsibility  for  such  acts? 
It  is  more  than  doubtful. 

Throughout  all  the  three  Petite  Entente  coun- 
[224] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

tries  one  finds  warm  friends  of  the  Poles  as  fellow 
Slavs,  especially  in  Roumania,  but  everywhere  the 
same  doubtful  shake  of  the  friendly  head — "Po- 
land can  live  and  be  strong  if  she  will  only  be 
reasonable,  but  can  she  be?  Is  she  disposed  to 
recognise  herself  as  a  novice  in  self-government 
and  apply  herself  to  its  study  and  practice?" 
Again  the  melancholy  shake  of  the  head,  and  al- 
ways the  fear  that  Poland  lives  too  much  in  a 
memory  of  ancient  military  grandeur,  and  recog- 
nises but  little  if  at  all,  that  by  the  Vilna  episode 
as  by  that  of  Teschen,  of  Upper  Silesia,  of  her 
slice  taken  on  the  east  from  Russia,  she  is  sur- 
rounding herself  with  a  succession  of  Alsaces  and 
Lorraines  which,  to  say  the  least,  can  only  mean 
undeveloped  friendships  with  neighbours. 

They  all  seem  to  feel  that  with  a  little  less  of 
both  land  and  population  her  future  would  be 
much  safer.  In  an  earlier  chapter  we  had  the  un- 
pleasant duty  of  recording  that  nowhere  in  Eu- 
rope outside  of  France  does  one  find  confidence 
in  a  long  continuance  of  Poland  as  a  separate 
state.  The  Germans  maintain  that  Poland's  ac- 
ceptance of  any  part  of  Upper  Silesia  necessitates 
an  early  combination  between  a  recovered  Ger- 

[225] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

many  and  a  renewed  Russia,  sure  to  mean  the 
squeezing  of  Poland  in  between  them.  Nowhere 
is  this  outcome  feared  more  than  in  Czecho- 
slovakia, whose  geographical  situation  forces  her 
statesmen  constantly  to  remember  that  they  stand 
at  a  junction  where  meet  those  three  great  blocs — 
the  Allies,  the  Slavs  and  the  Teutons.  It  seems 
a  safe  prediction  (however  unwelcome  in  Paris) 
that  Czecho-Slovakia  and  Jugo-Slavia  will  insist 
that  the  Little  Entente  steer  clear  of  the  animosi- 
ties that  Poland  seems  bent  on  accumulating,  and 
that  in  this  policy  of  national  self-interpretation 
and  defence,  Czecho-Slovakia  will  lead. 

The  economic  question  of  the  Petite  Entente 
and  its  relations  both  to  Hungary  and  Bulgaria 
(and  perhaps  also  to  diminished  Austria)  cannot 
be  understood  without  a  study  of  the  Danube  with 
its  possibility  of  heavy  river  traffic,  and  all  that 
means  of  cheap  transportation.  Too  long  has  the 
Danube  been  considered  as  a  frontier,  and  never 
sufficiently  as  an  artery.  What  is  to  become  of 
Hungary?  And  what  about  the  future  of  that 
small  state  still  called  Austria  lying  close  about 
Vienna? — all  that  is  left  of  the  broad  Hapsburg 
domains.  We  will  discuss  this  in  our  next  chapter. 
[226] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

It  is  time  to  consider  Bulgaria;  how  does  she 
affect  the  Petite  Entente?  Into  all  three  of  the 
Entente  countries  have  come  one  problem  new  to 
all  alike, — the  agrarian.  Before  the  war  Serbia 
lacked  sufficient  plainland  to  be  seriously  inter- 
ested in  agrarianism.  Now  with  the  addition  of 
agricultural  Croatia  and  Slovenia,  Belgrade  has 
found  it  necessary  to  accord  the  new  farming  ele- 
ments of  its  population  due  consideration. 

From  quite  another  angle  is  Roumania  con- 
fronting this  same  question.  Before  the  war  she 
already  possessed  fertile  plains  enough  to  under- 
stand the  needs  of  her  farmers,  but  hers  was  a 
well-balanced  population  without  undue  prepon- 
derance either  for  or  against  the  agrarian  element. 
Now,  since  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  has  given  her 
the  fertile  reaches  of  Bessarabia  and  Transylvania, 
she  finds  herself  embarrassed  by  an  excessive  pre- 
ponderance of  agriculturalists.  These  citizens  and 
also  the  Jugo-Slavs  are  listening  to  what  is  hap- 
pening south  of  them,  in  Bulgaria. 

There  the  Prime  Minister,  Stambuliski,  has 
raised  the  banner  of  the  Green  International,  to 
combat,  says  he,  the  Red  one.  His  thesis  is,  since 
food  is  a  nation's  greatest  necessity,  therefore  its 

[227] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

producers,  the  farmers,  should  control  the  govern- 
ment. Whether  this  vesting  of  control  in  one  class 
accords  or  not  with  the  principles  of  well-balanced 
freedom  for  all  classes,  it  pleases  the  farmers,  and 
the  success  of  this  movement  in  Bulgaria  is  giving 
Roumania  and  Serbia  (with  their  new  accretions 
of  farming  population)  cause  for  much  thought 
and  some  internal  unrest. 

This  Bulgarian  Prime  Minister,  Stambuliski, 
has  had  an  interesting  career.  He  began  as  or- 
ganiser of  small  groups  of  farmers  for  co-opera- 
tion and  for  business  self-defence.  Next  he  com- 
bined several  of  these  groups  into  a  Farmers'  Al- 
liance, was  selected  its  secretary,  and  went  into 
politics  on  its  behalf.  It  elected  him  to  Parlia- 
ment, where  a  constantly  growing  strength  of  his 
organisation  finally  raised  him  to  Prime  Minister. 

Bulgaria  was  on  the  loser's  side  of  the  war,  and 
therefore  was  considerably  reduced  in  territory 
when  the  carving  began  at  the  Versailles  council 
table,  but  its  aggressive  agrarianism  has  started 
somethmg  which  is  troubling  government  tran- 
quillity in  its  two  northerly  neighbours,  both  large 
territorial  gainers  from  the  war.  Agriculture  has 
its  problems  in  Czecho- Slovakia,  but  there  it  is 
[228] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

fortunately  balanced  by  a  well-developed  indus- 
trialism. 

We  have  seen  that  on  its  northerly  boundary, 
exposed  to  Germany,  the  Petite  Entente  cannot 
expect  immediate  assistance  in  an  emergency,  such 
as  the  Allies'  naval  forces  on  the  south  of  it  could 
render  either  directly  to  Jugo-Slavia  on  the 
Adriatic,  or  Roumania  on  the  Black  Sea,  or  indi- 
rectly by  a  back-fire  from  the  Mediterranean  on 
their  neighbours  the  Greeks  or  the  Bulgarians. 
Czecho- Slovakia  buttressed  within  her  mountain 
defended  quadrilateral  and  with  her  intense  na- 
tional spirit  fortified  by  an  advanced  industriahsm 
coupled  with  well-developed  agriculture,  seems 
well  equipped  mentally  and  materially  to  defend 
her  new  independence.  But  what  of  her  two  sis- 
ters in  the  Petite  Entente — increased  Roumania 
and  Jugo-Slavia?  Should  they  not  give  appre- 
hensive glances  toward  the  south  because  of  the 
new  conditions  there  developed  by  the  war?  Bul- 
garia the  bellicose,  reduced  in  territory  and  cut  off 
from  Prussian  equipment  and  aid,  has  had  her 
teeth  drawn.  But  Greece  and  Italy,  what  does 
their  expansion  as  Mediterranean  powers  mean  to 
the  Petite  Entente? 

[229] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Especially  has  the  httoral  of  both  Greece  and 
Italy  been  greatly  extended,  the  former  not  only 
eastward  over  the  widely  coveted  Salonika  har- 
bour, but  also  by  stepping  across  the  ^gean 
Archipelago  to  Asia  Minor,  whilst  Italy,  in  addi- 
tion to  her  share  of  Asian  water-front,  has  realised 
a  cherished  dream  by  gaining  Italia  Irredenta 
and  beyond.  Already  some  Italians  look  forward 
to  the  Adriatic  becoming  an  Italian  lake !  Against 
such  extremists  the  Allies  have  been  at  some  pains 
to  guarantee  a  sea  outlet  for  Jugo-Slavia,  and 
such  an  outlet  sounder  Italian  sentiment  approves, 
for  it  means  a  contented  neighbour  with  whom 
considerable  cross-Adriatic  trade  can  come.  The 
worst  danger  for  Italo-Serb  relations  was  over 
when  the  Fiume  discussion  was  compounded,  but 
in  ambitious  Greece,  the  Petite  Entente  has 
hardly  so  comfortable  a  neighbour.  Here  again 
we  have  the  same  uncertainty  that  we  found  dis- 
turbing Czech  statesmen  about  Poland — "will  they 
be  reasonable?"  Will  not  Greece  expect  too  great 
an  expansion  at  this  time,  now  that  the  door  to 
Asia  Minor  is  open?  Are  they  not  placing  hopes 
and  plans  too  much  on  their  settled  belief  that  the 
[230] 


PETITE  ENTENTE— SOUTHERN  DAM 

Turks  are  a  passing  race,  and  that  it  is  they,  the 
Greeks,  that  must  take  their  place? 

As  for  Bulgaria,  she  will  doubtless  continually 
essay  by  flirtation  or  rougher  methods,  to  gain  the 
co-operation  of  either  Jugo-Slavia  or  Roumania 
in  recovering  lost  Thracian  lands  from  Greece,  but 
it  is  not  to  be  feared  that  either  will  be  led  far  in 
such  a  direction.  They  both  realise  that  more  than 
ever  is  Greece  concerned  with  her  Mediterranean 
outlook,  and  seeks  only  there  her  extension.  Italy 
too,  now  that  the  Fiume  danger  is  past,  has  noth- 
ing in  her  future  to  arouse  suspicions  in  the  chan- 
ceries of  Prague,  Belgrade  or  Bucharest. 

Most  wise  is  the  policy  determined  upon  by 
Czecho-Slovakia,  Roumania  and  Serbia  to  set  their 
house  in  order  against  a  possible  evil  day  when  a 
recovered  Germany  may  combine  with  a  renewed 
Russia,  and  threaten  next-door  neighbours  of  this 
union  of  German  energy  and  Russian  raw  prod- 
ucts and  man  power.  In  only  one  particular  is 
this  foresight  of  the  Petite  Entente  open  to  criti- 
cism— their  statesmen  seem  to  feel  that  Russia 
cannot  recover  for  fifteen  years.  They  forget  the 
character  of  Russia  before  the  Revolution, — illit- 
erate, unwieldy,  illy  developed. 

[231] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

If  an  highly  developed  country  like  France 
should  undergo  such  a  debacle  as  overcame  Russia 
in  1917,  undoubtedly  it  would  take  her  all  of  fif- 
teen years  to  recover  from  the  shattering  of  her 
intricate  civilisation.  But  think  of  France  as  a 
watch,  and  of  Russia  as  a  wheelbarrow.  If  a 
watch  is  injured,  it  takes  specialists  and  consider- 
able time  to  bring  it  back  into  working  order,  but 
any  well  meaning  person  can  repair  a  wheel- 
barrow promptly! 

Given  a  return  to  reason  by  Russia,  and  her 
restoration  as  a  world  power  will  come  about  more 
rapidly  than  is  predicted  by  the  leaders  of  the 
Petite  Entente.  Even  now  far-sighted  foreigners 
are  saying  that  all  Russia  needs  is  a  reorganisation 
of  her  railways  to  relieve  famine  and  open  her 
granaries  and  raw  products  to  the  markets  of  the 
world.  The  Petite  Entente's  programme  of 
prompt  development  for  self-defence  is  admirable, 
but  the  danger  from  Germany  on  the  north  and 
Russia  on  the  east  is  nearer  in  time  than  they  seem 
at  present  to  realise. 


[232] 


CHAPTER  VIII:  A  HOUSE 
DIVIDED— HUNGARY 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A   HOUSE   DIVIDED HUNGAHY 

IN  April,  1917,  Count  Czernin,  Austro-Hun- 
garian  Foreign  Minister,  wrote  to  the  Emperor 
Charles : 

"Five  sovereigns  have  been  dethroned  under 
conditions  which  give  rise  to  serious  thought.  It 
is  no  use  arguing  that  conditions  in  Austria- 
Hungaiy  are  different  or  that  the  monarchical 
system  is  so  deeply  rooted  in  Vienna  that  a  similar 
danger  does  not  exist  there." 

At  the  same  time  referring  to  the  various  propo- 
sitions leading  up  to  peace  which  Hungary  had 
opposed  because  of  conflicting  claims  between  Ger- 
many and  Austria,  Count  Czernin  made  no  secret 
of  the  lack  of  sympathy  and  understanding  in  the 
Dual  Empire  which,  in  truth,  had  never  been  se- 
cret. In  spirit  it  was  always  a  house  divided 
against  itself. 

A  Bohemian  grand  seigneur  and  territorial 
magnate,  Count  Ottocar  von  Czernin  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  displaced  Berchtold — who  owed  his 

[235] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

downfall  and  disgrace  to  Berlin — and  with  his  ac- 
cession as  Premier  and  also  Chancellor  of  the  Dual 
Empire  it  was  hoped  that  Berchtold's  policies 
would  be  revived  and  thus  bring  a  new  vitality  to 
the  reigning  house.  In  the  anti-German  preju- 
dices of  the  latter  his  successor  was  supposed  to 
share  and  the  peace  seekers  took  heart.  But  again 
arose  the  question  of  the  surrender  of  Transyl- 
vania to  Roumania  since  it  was  largely  inhabited 
by  Roumanians,  and  this  the  Magyars  would  not 
hear  of. 

Thus  was  shown  once  more,  as  it  had  been  when 
there  was  a  chance  to  make  Roumania  an  ally  or 
at  least  a  neutral,  the  utter  division  between  the 
parts  of  this  divided  house.  It  hardly  needed  a 
reference  to  the  wisdom  of  Holy  Writ  to  realise 
that  it  must  fall. 

From  that  rich  province  of  Transylvania,  now 
lost  to  Hungary  by  a  division  of  the  spoils  of  war, 
strangely  enough  come  both  Count  Bethlen,  the 
Prime  Minister,  a  statesman  of  refinement,  cul- 
ture and  experience  and  also  the  family  of  Count 
Banffy,  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  One  could 
hardly  find  a  greater  difference  between  two  men 
than  exists  between  these  two  ministers. 
[236] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

Both  are  slender  and  of  medium  height,  differ- 
ing widely  in  build  from  the  thick  set,  sturdier 
Admiral  Horthy.  Count  Bethlen's  serious  eyes 
below  a  high  domed  forehead  belong  to  a  man  of 
the  world  who  has  no  illusions,  but  pursues  definite 
results  as  seen  from  the  angle  of  the  old  regime, 
while  in  Count  Banffy  one  perceives  a  man  with 
a  vision  of  new  things,  an  artist  to  his  finger  tips, 
an  optimist  convinced  that  better  days  are  already 
in  sight. 

Perhaps  Count  Banffy  is  an  unusual  selection 
for  the  post  he  holds,  because  most  of  his  high 
reputation  has  been  gained  in  the  world  of  art  as 
painter,  writer  and  musician.  And  yet,  withal,  his 
success  has  been  along  practical  lines  in  various 
artistic  fields,  for  his  was  long  the  directing  mind 
at  the  Opera  House,  where  nothing  daunted  his 
insistence  on  finished  results.  Was  scenery  lack- 
ing? he  designed  it;  was  music  needed?  he  com- 
posed it;  and  yet  all  the  time  his  practical  hand 
was  guiding  the  innumerable  business  details  of 
that  large  enterprise.  His  political  emergence  at 
this  time  finds  an  interesting  parallel  in  that  of 
Paderewski  at  Warsaw,  where  a  world-famous 
pianist  showed  himself  likewise  adept  at  states- 

[239] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

manship.  And  yet  in  such  a  parallel  Banff y 
would,  along  practical  lines,  benefit  by  the  com- 
parison. 

I  told  him  that  certain  Roumanians  sufficiently 
broad-minded  to  desire  closer  commercial  relations 
with  Hungary,  notably  that  charming  personality 
Bratianu,  feared  that  such  a  rapprochement 
would  be  difficult  of  achievement  if  the  Hungarian 
negotiators  were  men  hke  Bethlen  and  Banffy 
whose  families  had  been  impoverished  by  loss  of 
estates  in  Transylvania  now  distributed  to  Rou- 
manian peasants.  The  angle  from  which  the 
Hungarian  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  viewed 
this  question  was  interesting. 

Said  he,  "Who,  for  that  very  reason,  are  better 
qualified  to  treat  with  Roumania  than  Count 
Bethlen  and  I?  The  Hungarian  people,  feeling 
keenly  as  they  do  the  loss  of  that  rich  province, 
would  probably  repudiate  any  agreement  looking 
towards  closer  commercial  relations  with  Rou- 
mania if  it  were  negotiated  by  men  who  had  suf- 
fered less  than  my  colleague  and  myself.  If  we 
are  willing  to  forget  and  forgive  in  order  to  benefit 
our  beloved  country's  present  and  immediate  fu- 
ture, then  such  renewed  business  ties  stand  a  far 
[240] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

better  chance  of  fruition  than   if  negotiated  by 
those  who  have  suffered  less  than  we." 

This  point  of  view  was  shared  by  Count  Bethlen, 
who  frankly  avowed  that  his  policy  was  for  Hun- 
gary to  do  business,  not  only  vdth  Roumania,  but 
also  with  all  of  her  other  neighbours.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  any  statesman  in  that  part  of 
the  world  espousing  such  a  progressive  policy 
must  proceed  gingerly,  or  his  own  people  (still 
filled  with  war-bred  prejudices)  will  turn  him  out 
of  office.  To  appreciate  how  broad-minded  these 
two  last  statesmen  really  are,  you  should  know 
that  kinsmen  of  both,  large  landowners  in  Tran- 
sylvania, were  called  before  a  board  of  petty  Rou- 
manian officials,  told  that  they  were  stripped  of 
all  their  estates  except  three  or  four  hundred  acres 
apiece,  and  then  heard  those  same  officials  allot 
ten  thousand  of  their  acres  to  a  Roumanian  village, 
notwithstanding  the  villagers'  loud  protests  that 
they  only  wanted  and  could  only  cultivate  six  hun- 
dred acres! 

This  story  explains  why  the  production  of  grain 
has  been  reduced  all  through  that  section.  This 
breaking  up  of  large  estates  and  their  distribution 
among  small  holders,  a  reform  now  popular  in 

[241] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

many  parts  of  eastern  Europe  north  as  well  as 
south,  is  in  practice  working  badly  almost  every- 
where, except  in  Denmark,  where  the  intelligence 
of  both  the  government  and  the  small  farmers  is 
causing  increased  national  production.    Elsewhere 
it  is  reducing  production,  for  the  small  farmer  has 
neither  the  equipment,  the  capital,  nor  the  initia- 
tive to  cultivate  his  new  holdings  to  anything  like 
the    extent   they    formerly    sustained.     Absentee 
landlordism  is  a  bad  thing,  but  the  local  agents 
directing  large  estates  had  personal  reasons  for 
keeping  up  production.     In  southeastern  Europe 
theory  and  practice  are  not  always  next  door  neigh- 
bours ! 

The  Hungarian  leaders  we  have  just  met  are 
generally     considered     reactionaries     by     foreign 
critics,  and  yet  Hungary  is  officially  on  record  as 
more   actively    seeking   renewal   of   inter-country 
trade  than  any  of  their  neighbours  but  the  Czechs. 
First  let  us  consider   the  background   against 
which    these    Hungarian    leaders    have    emerged. 
When  the  Reds  under  Bela  Kun  gained  control  of 
Budapest  and  for  an  hundred  days  made  an  eco- 
nomic madhouse   (not,  as  they  claimed,  a  labora- 
tory) of  that  beautiful  city,  the  Hungarian  govern- 
[242] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

ment  withdrew  to  Szegedin,  a  small  provincial 
centre  of  about  50,000  inhabitants  near  the  new 
Jugo-Slav  frontier,  and  there  it  remained  until 
after  the  departure  homeward  of  the  Roumanian 
army  which  theoretically  invaded  Hungary  on  the 
mandate  of  the  League  of  Nations  to  oust  the  Reds. 

The  fact  was  that  Bela  Kun  was  overthrown  in 
a  meeting  of  his  own  people,  whereupon  the 
League  of  Nations  wired  the  Roumanian  Army  to 
stop  at  the  frontier,  but  they  say  they  never  re- 
ceived the  message. 

Without  striking  a  blow,  they  marched  to 
Budapest  and  took  possession.  The  Hungarians 
say  that  the  systematic  way  in  which  the  Rou- 
manians looted  the  place,  made  the  Red  wolves 
look  like  lambs.  "When  the  Roumanians  arrived 
there  was  a  full  moon,  when  they  left  there  was 
none  at  all,"  exclaimed  a  Magyar.  General  Band- 
holz,  an  American  officer,  was  in  Budapest  with 
five  soldiers.  Armed  only  with  a  riding  crop,  he 
drove  from  the  palace  a  Roumanian  company  of 
would-be  looters.  To  protect  the  Museum  from 
intended  spoliation,  he  sealed  the  key-hole  of  the 
door  with  the  United  States  seal  and  stationed 
on  guard   one   of  his  five   soldiers.     The  Rou- 

[243] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

manians  finally  withdrew  from  the  country,  tak- 
ing with  them  thousands  of  Hungarian  railway 
cars  filled  with  loot. 

I  arrived  in  Szegedin  just  before  the  break  of  a 
September  day  and  tried  to  picture  to  myself  the 
scene  of  Hungarian  reason  installed  here  with  its 
back  against  its  own  frontier,  facing  unreason  rul- 
ing at  the  capital.  All  military  action  by  the 
Hungarian  government  was  forbidden  by  the  Al- 
lies. At  this  moment  of  national  despair,  the 
senior  Hungarian  naval  officer,  Admiral  Horthy, 
appears  and  takes  command.  With  such  a  leader, 
the  result  was  certain,  and  the  only  question  was 
how  soon  reason  would  supplant  unreason  in 
Budapest.  When  I  saw  him  in  his  room  at  the 
splendid  Hapsburg  palace,  which  from  the  heights 
of  Buda  looks  down  across  the  river  upon  level 
Pest,  the  first  thing  I  noticed  was  his  jaw — it 
looks  like  the  base  of  a  gun  turret!  If  it  were  not 
for  the  keen,  kindly  eyes  and  the  pleasant  expres- 
sion they  and  the  expressive  mouth  lend,  his  face 
would  belong  in  the  prize  ring.  He  is  obviously 
a  fighting  man,  but  he  has  the  intelligence  to  know 
when  to  fight.  He  was  full  of  tales  of  Magyar 
prowess,  and  it  was  fine  to  see  the  pride  with  which 
[244] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

he  told  of  the  82nd  Schikler  regiment,  1,200 
strong,  which  when  surrounded  by  10,000  Rus- 
sians refused  to  surrender,  but  for  three  days  and 
nights  and  without  food  and  water,  fought  on  until 
every  one  of  the  gallant  1,200  was  dead.  But  he 
was  statesman  enough  to  realise  that,  as  Hungary 
was  not  now  armed,  no  excuse  should  be  given  in 
Burgenland  for  the  Czechs  to  march  down  from 
the  north  and  the  Serbs  up  from  the  south,  so  that 
the  Slav  corridor,  completing  on  the  west  the  sur- 
rounding of  Hungary,  should  become  a  fait  ac- 
compli, thus  obtaining  for  them  what  Versailles 
refused.  He  preserved  the  existence  of  Hungary 
when  he  snuffed  out  the  second  Hapsburg  invasion 
before  Roumania  and  Jugo-Slavia  had  time  to 
move. 

We  talked  of  the  need  of  a  new  Danube 
customs  confederation  so  that  the  river  might 
again  become  an  artery  of  commerce,  enabling 
each  of  its  neighbours  freely  to  exchange  their 
products.  To  such  a  Zollverein  or  customs  union 
to  replace  that  provided  by  the  old  empire,  he  said 
all  of  southeastern  Europe  must  now  resolutely 
address  itself.  His  is  a  striking  personality,  one 
of  the  most  so  in  all  Europe.     In  him  one  in- 

[245] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

stantly  recognises  the  type  which  in  the  Middle 
Ages  must  inevitahly  have  founded  a  dynasty. 
He  is  straightforward,  simple,  and  inspires  confi- 
dence. His  is  not  an  easy  position.  "That  chair," 
said  he,  pointing  to  the  one  at  his  desk,  "is  the  most 
uncomfortable  one  in  Europe.  I  did  not  want  to 
occupy  it,  and  even  after  I  was  selected  for  that 
duty  was  extremely  reluctant  to  accept." 

He  is  Governor  and  also  Regent  for  a  King, 
Karl  Hapsburg,  who,  when  he  abdicated,  expressly 
stipulated  that  it  was  only  until  Parliament  should 
recall  him.  When  Karl,  misled  (so  one  hears)  by 
certain  Paris  royalists  into  believing  that  the 
French  Government  would  recognise  a  completed 
coup  d'etat,  arrived  in  Budapest,  Horthy  was 
completely  surprised.  He  knew  nothing  of  the 
King's  coming  until  told  he  was  in  the  next  room! 
His  was  then  the  unpleasant  duty  of  arguing  for 
three  long  hours  with  dissatisfied  royalty  in  an 
effort  to  convince  the  latter  that  the  return  was 
untimely.  One  wonders  what  would  have  hap- 
pened if  instead  of  selecting  this  clandestine 
method  of  arriving  or  the  later  bellicose  but  final 
one,  Karl  had  waited  until  St.  Stephen's  Day  and 
after  the  Magyar  Magnates,  in  gorgeous  array, 
[246] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

had  finished  their  annual  march  to  the  coronation 
church  of  St.  Matthias,  crowning  the  summit  of 
lofty  Buda,  and  were  assembled  within  those  an- 
cient walls  mutely  eloquent  of  Hapsburg  history, 
he  had  stepped  forward  in  front  of  the  altar  in 
kingly  crown  and  robes!  Might  not  psychology 
have  effected  what  secrecy  or  mihtary  effort  failed 
to  achieve?  one  wonders. 

The  curse  of  southeastern  Europe  is  the  wide 
popularity  of  militarism,  a  luxury  denied  to  Aus- 
tria and  Hungary,  each  limited  to  35,000  troops. 
If  the  world  has  learned  anything  at  all  from  the 
war  (which  is  doubtful)  it  is  that  a  nation  armed 
to  the  teeth  is  a  dangerous  child  for  its  own  mili- 
tary chiefs  to  play  with.  Loaded  guns  should  not 
be  left  lying  about,  especially  among  people  who 
for  centuries  have  loved  fighting  and  in  whose 
ancient  nomadic  blood  unrest  is  inbred.  Such  folk 
are  not  easy  to  control,  even  by  leaders  of  their 
own  selection. 

Before  visiting  the  new  Austria  after  seeing 
Hungary,  let  us  turn  to  view  what  is  going  on  round 
about  three  sides  of  them,  for  we  may  thus  gain 
some  hint  of  what  the  future  holds  in  store  for  both 
Austrians  and  Hungarians. 

[247] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

The  insistent  and  growing  demand  for  local  au- 
tonomy of  a  real  character  had  been  so  long  re- 
pressed that  it  became  a  habit  of  mind,  and  even  the 
break-up  of  the  empire  has  not  satisfied  it.  The 
new  states  of  Czecho- Slovakia  and  Jugo-Slavia  and 
the  newly-enlarged  Roumania  are  all  finding  that 
this  demand  for  local  autonomy  will  not  down. 
Bessarabia,  the  fertile  province  transferred  from 
Russia  to  Roumania,  was  in  such  a  state  of  unrest 
that  it  was  under  martial  law  when  I  reached 
Bucharest  in  September,  1921.  When  I  wanted 
to  travel  from  that  capital  to  Budapest  (which 
meant  passing  through  Transylvania,  lately  taken 
from  Hungary  and  given  to  Roumania),  trouble 
also  broke  out  there,  necessitating  the  declaration  of 
martial  law,  so  I  had  to  go  round  to  the  west  by  way 
of  Szegedin.  On  my  way  across  Jugo-Slavia,  all 
the  way  from  the  Italian  border  to  Belgrade,  for 
twenty-four  hours  one  constantly  saw  troops,  and 
Belgrade  was  full  of  them.  Why?— the  war  had 
been  over  three  years. 

A  few  days  later,  there  was  an  outbreak  in  Bos- 
nia and  Herzegovina,  provinces  taken  from  Aus- 
tria and  given  to  Jugo-Slavia,  and  there  troops 
were  needed.     The  Croats  and  Slovenes,  well  edu- 
[248] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

cated  Roman  Catholics,  but  lately  added  to  Jugo- 
slavia, are  far  from  satisfied  by  the  treatment  they 
are  receiving  from  the  less  literate  Serbs  who  are 
all  Greek  Catholics.  To  the  north  of  the  present 
Austria  and  Hungary,  in  Czecho- Slovakia,  the 
Ruthenians  at  the  east  end  are  dissatisfied  with  their 
new  conditions,  while  in  the  middle  of  this  new 
country,  the  Slovaks  complain  they  are  garrisoned 
by  Czechs  and  that  no  Slovak  soldiers  are  stationed 
at  home  as  was  originally  agreed. 

Both  Hungary  and  the  new  Austria  are  fortu- 
nate in  having  populations  largely  homogeneous, 
but  in  Czecho-Slovakia,  Jugo-Slavia  and  enlarged 
Roumania  the  uncomfortable  fact  is  that  the  racial 
minorities  are  receiving  no  better  treatment  than 
they  did  under  Vienna's  rule,  and  in  many  cases  are 
worse  off  than  they  used  to  be.  Frontier  cus- 
tom houses  set  up  all  through  the  former  imperial 
territory  are  everywhere  proving  a  most  annoying 
nuisance. 

At  Szegedin  I  saw  a  customs  officer  examine  each 
paper  in  a  merchant's  portfolio  and  slit  open  a  nmn- 
ber  of  letters  that  were  sealed.  How  can  business 
be  done  under  such  conditions?  What  is  the  ef- 
fect of  all  this  nonsense  upon  Danube  shipping? 

[249] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

I  travelled  down  that  river  from  Belgrade  to 
Turnu-Severin  in  Roumania,  a  trip  of  twenty  hours, 
and  saw  only  two  laden  barges.  An  ample  fleet 
of  boats  once  belonging  to  the  Empire  lay  tied  up 
at  Belgrade.  They  had  lately  been  awarded  to 
Jugo-Slavia  as  its  share  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
river  shipping,  but  the  Serbs  had  no  organisation 
for  running  them,  and  besides,  feared  (perhaps  ad- 
visedly) that  if  they  went  down  the  river  into  Rou- 
manian territory  or  up  it  into  Hungarian,  they 
might  never  come  back. 

On  my  way  up  the  Danube  from  Budapest  to 
Vienna,  during  the  whole  twenty-five  hours  we 
passed  only  six  loaded  cargo  boats.  As  a  remedy 
for  this  wholesale  dislocation  of  Danube  traffic,  its 
widely  heralded  inter-nationalisation  is  about  as  ef- 
ficacious as  one  I  saw  applied  for  backache  in  Can- 
ton, where  in  the  God  of  Medicine's  temple  a  be- 
liever paid  for  the  privilege  of  pasting  a  red  prayer 
on  the  back  of  the  sacred  image ! 

Internationalising  the  Danube  enables  French 
and  English  gunboats  to  ascend  the  river  at  will, 
and  has  permitted  the  English  to  buy  control  of 
most  of  the  shipping  awarded  to  Austria,  but  as  a 
remedy  for  a  disturbed  economic  condition,  it  is  a 
[250] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

gruesome  joke.  America's  reputation  for  fair 
dealing  has  been  greatly  enhanced  by  Walter  D. 
Hines'  impartial  administration  of  the  difficult  task 
of  dividing  the  Austro-Hungarian  shipping  among 
the  rival  nations,  but  even  his  fair  distribution  of 
the  boats  cannot  restore  former  traffic  conditions. 
What  is  going  to  be  the  remedy  that  Fate  will 
administer  to  Magyar  and  Austrian  for  their  pres- 
ent woes?  In  Paris  and  London  one  hears  much 
of  a  strengthening  reunion  later  on  between  Hun- 
gary and  Austria,  but  a  visit  to  those  two  countries 
soon  dispels  such  notions.  The  first  day  I  spent  in 
Budapest  two  sights  argued  strongly  against  such 
a  union.  Number  one  was  a  photograph  of  Hun- 
garian troops  tearing  up  the  railway  line  between 
Budapest  and  Vienna  in  Burgenland,  a  westerly 
Hungarian  province  awarded  by  the  Trianon 
Treaty  to  Austria,  to  which  decision  the  Burgen- 
landers  were  violently  opposed.  Sight  number  two 
was  that  of  the  Hungarian  Chief  of  the  General 
Staff  who  preceded  me  in  seeing  the  Prime  Minis- 
ter, Count  Bethlen,  and  then  waited  after  my  call 
for  a  more  prolonged  conference  with  him.  Both 
those  sights  spelled  armed  resistance.  Taken  to- 
gether they  could  hardly  be  considered  as  amicable 

[251] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

preliminaries  to  a  political  or  economic  alliance! 
No,  a  reunion  of  the  Magyars  with  the  German- 
speaking  Austrians,  though  possible  later  on,  is  cer- 
tainly not  on  the  calendar  for  an  early  hearing. 

This  Burgenland  difficulty  had  a  double  signifi- 
cance, both  of  them  dangerous.  Primarily,  it  was 
a  territorial  dispute  between  Austria  and  Hungary, 
but  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  it  likewise 
concerns  a  possible  "corridor"  so  connecting  the 
Slav  states,  Czecho-Slovakia  and  Jugo-Slavia  (they 
asked  for  it  at  Versailles  but  were  refused),  that 
it  would  make  of  Hungary  a  Magyar  island  in  a 
Slav  sea,  or,  as  Budapest  puts  it,  "it  would  com- 
plete our  strangulation." 

But  what  can  Hungary  do?  She  is  allowed 
equipment  only  for  35,000  men,  while  Czecho-Slo- 
vakia has  147,000,  Roumania  312,000  and  Jugo- 
Slavia  200,000  actually  under  arms,  but  with  equip- 
ment for  at  least  double  those  numbers.  Those  are 
the  official  figures,  but  Jugo-Slavia  certainly  has 
many  more  now  mobilised,  and  as  for  Roumania,  I 
myself  saw  on  my  way  from  Bucharest  to  Sze- 
gedin,  squads  or  platoons  of  men  at  all  the  railway 
stations  most  of  whom,  although  supplied  with  rifles 
and  ammunition  belts,  wore  no  uniforms.  It  looked 
[252] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— HUNGARY 

like  a  levy  en  masse;  perhaps  this  was  because  of 
martial  law  just  proclaimed  in  Transylvania  plus 
that  already  existing  in  Bessarabia,  the  two  new 
provinces  supposedly  delighted  by  their  restoration 
to  the  Roumanian  homeland !  Versailles  ethnolog- 
ical experts  please  take  note. 


[253] 


CHAPTER  IX:  A  HOUSE 
DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  HOUSE  DIVIDED AUSTRIA 

IN  the  Foreign  Office  at  Vienna,  overlooking  the 
famous  Ballplatz,  is  a  handsome  room  in  which 
was  held  the  Vienna  Congress  of  the  great  Powers 
in  1815.  You  are  surprised  to  observe  that  this 
room  is  provided  with  the  unnecessary  number  of 
five  doors,  and  when  you  ask  the  reason,  you  are 
told  that  none  of  the  five  monarchs  who  attended 
that  Congress  was  willing  to  allow  any  other  to 
precede  him  into  the  room,  so  the  five  entrances 
were  provided  to  let  all  five  enter  upon  exactly 
equal  terms! 

Here  we  have  a  picture  of  the  attitude  of  mind 
of  the  five  countries  among  whom  Versailles  di- 
vided the  territory  of  the  old  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire,  viz.,  the  new  or  succession  states  of  Hun- 
gary, Austria,  Czecho-Slovakia,  Roumania  and 
Jugo-Slavia.  A  much  smaller  portion,  Italia  Ir- 
redenta, was  given  to  Italy.  Any  one  who  has  re- 
cently visited  those  countries  will  conclude  that  it 
would  be  well  for  the  present  and  future  of  all  and 

[257] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

sundry  if  they  would  forget  the  five-doored  equal- 
ity demanded  at  the  Ballplatz  and  turn  toward  their 
common  "beautiful  blue  Danube,"  which  with  a  ht- 
tle  co-operative  effort  might  easily  become  a  river 
of  gold  enriching  them  all. 

Great  rivers  should  be  considered  as  arteries  of 
commerce,  not  as  boundaries  dividing  states  or  as 
customs  barriers  between  them  or  for  military  de- 
fence, which  last  means  more  money  to  support  ar- 
mies than  is  taken  in  at  the  custom  houses.  Few 
if  any  of  the  world's  great  watercourses  can  sur- 
pass the  Danube  in  commercial  possibilities,  navi- 
gable as  it  is  all  the  way  from  Uhn  down  to  the 
Black  Sea,  1200  miles  of  waterway,  along  which 
before  the  war  travelled  a  huge  annual  tonnage  now 
fallen  to  negligible  figures.  Formerly  there  ex- 
isted something  which,  in  another  form,  should  ex- 
ist to-day,  and  which  (because  politics  must  ulti- 
mately defer  to  economic  laws)  will  certainly  later 
come  into  being — a  Danube  customs  confederation. 
Before  the  war  this  commerce-facilitating  confed- 
eration was  called  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire, 
but  the  arbitrary  and  selfish  manner  in  which  the 
Hapsburgs  ruled  it  from  Vienna  made  its  fall  cer- 
tain. Everywhere  one  heard  the  prediction  that, 
[258] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

notwithstanding  the  free  interchange  of  commodi- 
ties which  the  Empire  permitted,  it  would  not  long 
outlast  the  aged  Emperor,  and  could  not  be  handed 
on  by  him  as  an  enduring  heritage  to  any  other 
Ilapsburg.  By  a  grim  freak  of  history,  it  was  in- 
side the  Empire  itself  and  in  its  latest  seized  prov- 
ince that  flamed  up  the  spark  of  war  destined  to 
destroy  that  old  Danube  Confederation,  the  Aus- 
tro-Hungarian  Empire.  Then  it  comprised  a  wide 
coterminous  territory  of  388,812  square  miles  with 
a  population  of  41  millions,  but  now  the  dual  mon- 
archy's name  is  borne  only  by  shrunken  Austria 
with  but  six  million  people,  and  its  unfriendly 
neighbour  Hungary  with  its  seven  million,  eight 
hundred  thousand.  To  the  north  of  them,  shutting 
off  for  the  most  part  their  old  masterful  ally,  Ger- 
many, is  Czecho-Slovakia,  whose  fourteen  millions 
possess  within  their  borders  nearly  eighty  per  cent 
of  the  business  formerly  enjoyed  by  the  whole  Em- 
pire. To  the  south  and  east  of  Austria  and  Hun- 
gary lie  Roumania  (17,000,000)  and  Jugo-Slavia 
(14,000,000,)  both  of  which,  though  previously  ex- 
isting (the  latter  as  Serbia),  are  now  notably  en- 
larged by  huge  areas  of  fertile  plains  taken  from 
the  old  empire  by  the  Versailles  geography-tinkers. 

[261] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Why  did  this  ancient  empire  break  up — was  it 
due,  as  its  former  ruling  caste  claims,  only  to  the 
fortune  of  war,  or  was  the  fault  partly  or  largely 
theirs?  Why  was  there  reversed  the  obvious  eco- 
nomic demand  that  the  tribes,  originally  nomadic, 
living  about  the  Danube,  should  have  the  freest  pos- 
sible intercommunication,  undisturbed  by  the  riv- 
alry of  soi-disant  patriotic  militarists  or  by  com- 
merce-interrupting customs  officials?  A  traveller 
to-day  through  that  much  disturbed  area  will  hear 
conflicting  answers  to  those  questions,  each  side 
flatly  contradicting  the  other,  always  with  abun- 
dant proof  available.  If  the  traveller  be  an  Amer- 
ican, he  will  be  struck  by  the  fact  that  each  country 
or  section  or  tribe  will  insist  that  a  complete  rem- 
edy for  its  present  unsatisfactory  conditions  (for 
all  are  dissatisfied)  would  be  afforded  by  a  rectifica- 
tion of  its  boundaries,  which  means  "give  me  some 
more  territory"  or  "give  me  back  some."  It  is  as 
if  a  New  Yorker  should  say  that  his  local  problem 
of  labour  unemployment  could  be  solved  by  giving 
his  State  a  corner  of  Connecticut  or  a  slice  of  Penn- 
sylvania! Always  and  everywhere,  they  talk 
boundaries  first,  and  only  secondly  do  they  come 
down  to  economics.  After  this  traveller  has  had 
[262] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

time  to  digest  the  differing  impressions  he  has 
received  and  conflicting  claims  he  has  heard,  he  is 
apt  to  conckide  that  one  of  the  chief  disruptive 
factors  in  the  old  empire  was  absentee  landlordism, 
plus  the  system  under  which  those  landlords  farmed 
their  land.  Great  estates  existed  in  all  parts  of  the 
empire  but  almost  never  did  their  owner  personally 
manage  them  or  try  to  keep  in  touch  with  both  the 
land  and  its  people.  In  England,  large  landed 
estates  carry  responsibility  for  the  welfare  of  the 
tenantry,  but  in  Austro-Hungary  the  rule  was  to 
farm  such  properties  through  managers,  frequently 
Jews,  who  after  securing  therefrom  the  required 
income  for  the  owner,  saw  to  it  that  they  themselves 
also  profited  from  the  tenants. 

Just  as  there  was  absentee  landlordism  for  most 
of  the  large  estates,  so  there  was  lack  of  sufficient 
autonomy  for  almost  all  the  many  races  compris- 
ing that  heterogeneous  empire.  All  this  made  for 
large  and  brilliant  capitals  at  Vienna  and  Buda- 
pest, but  out  on  the  broad  fertile  plains  it  caused 
unrest,  which  in  an  intellectual  centre,  like  Prague, 
could  not  but  lead  thinking  men  towards  growing 
demands  for  autonomy,  and  real  autonomy  at  that. 
Even  if  there  had  come  no  world  war,  the  steady 

[263] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

development  of  such  disruptive  forces  within  the 
empire  would  certainly  have  destroyed  it.  It  was 
over-organised  from  above.  That  clever  Rouma- 
nian, Take  Jonescu,  was  entirely  right  in  saying 
that  there  was  no  Austrian  nation,  but  only  an  Aus- 
trian governing  class ! 

Austria,  that  hydrocephalous  country,  all  head 
with  no  supporting  members,  Vienna  stripped  of 
tributary  provinces,  reduced  to  a  population  of  six 
millions,  is  as  radical  according  to  these  same  for- 
eign critics  as  they  consider  their  Hungarian  neigh- 
bours to  be  reactionary.  Several  grains  of  salt  can 
safely  be  added  to  both  these  critical  statements. 
It  is  true  that  inside  Vienna  radicalism  is  predomi- 
nant, but  the  opposite  is  true  outside  the  city  limits. 

And  what  of  the  political  leaders  of  the  new  gov- 
ernment? Certainly  there  was  no  place  in  the 
ultra-conservative  hierarchy  of  imperial  Austria 
for  even  so  moderate  a  radical  as  President  Hain- 
isch  of  the  new  republic.  Not  only  did  he  hold  ad- 
vanced views  on  agrarianism,  but  he  bought  a  small 
farm  in  Styria  and  practised  what  he  preached.  He 
wrote  things  which  were  considered  socialistic  be- 
cause they  were  ahead  of  the  times  in  a  country 
where  the  Hapsburgs  were  constantly  setting  back 
[264] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

the  clock.  But  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  present 
day,  his  old  radicalism  looks  as  conservative  as  do 
the  once  dreaded  progressive  doctrines  of  Roosevelt. 
The  world  has  moved  onward,  passing  old  land- 
marks. 

It  may  be  objected  that  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to 
study  the  personality  of  any  incumbent  of  that  de- 
natured office,  the  Austrian  Presidency,  since  he  is 
only  a  iSgurehead,  possessing  little  power,  not  even 
that  of  selecting  the  Cabinet  as  does  his  old  per- 
sonal friend,  President  Masaryk  of  Czecho-Slo- 
vakia.  Well,  if  that  statement  be  true  (but  again 
we  recommend  recourse  to  the  salt  cellar),  then 
they  could  not  have  chosen  a  better  figurehead,  for 
President  Hainisch  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
looking  officials  in  all  Europe.  His  high-browed, 
strong  featured  head  with  its  iron  grey  hair  and 
beard  express  the  intellectuality  of  the  man.  And 
with  this  appearance,  goes  a  grave  courtesy  not  at 
all  modern. 

On  the  subject  of  whether  the  future  of  Austria 
pointed  toward  absorption  into  Germany  or  ad- 
herence to  an  economic  re-grouping  of  Danube 
states,  he  was  diplomatically  uncommunicative,  but 
on  his  desk  laid  a  coloured  map  showing  the  lan- 

[265] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

guage  demarkations  of  European  peoples — almost 
all  Austrians  speak  German.  They  undoubtedly 
wish  to  be  united  to  Germany,  and  it  required  strin- 
gent interdict  by  the  Allies  to  prevent  their  hold- 
ing a  plebiscite  thereon,  which  it  is  generally  be- 
lieved would  have  gone  heavily  in  favour  of  such  a 
union.  And  would  such  a  result  have  really  been 
so  unfortunate  for  the  Allies? 

Let  us  see.  Is  it  not  true  that  the  future  danger 
for  France  lies  not  so  much  in  Germany,  as  in  a 
continued  leadership  of  its  aggressive  elements  by 
that  arch  aggressor,  Prussian  militarism?  If  that 
be  so,  how  better  can  Prussia's  influence  within 
the  Empire  be  combated  than  by  admitting  these 
six  million  Austrians  who,  as  Roman  Catholics, 
would  side  with  their  co-religionists,  the  Bavarians, 
and  other  south  Germans  against  the  Lutherans  of 
Prussia  and  north  Germany?  Furthermore,  there 
are  many  Frenchmen  who  believe  there  is  danger  of 
Austria  uniting  with  Hungary  and  thus  reinforc- 
ing the  wedge  already  driven  between  the  northern 
and  southern  parts  of  those  two  dams  running  east 
and  west  across  southeastern  Europe  called  the 
"Petite  Entente."  This  danger  (although  the 
writer  does  not  believe  in  it)  would  also  be  elimi- 
[266] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

nated  by  allowing  Austria  to  unite  with  Germany. 
Also  it  would  mean  that  Hungary,  left  to  herself, 
and  realising  that  the  Danube  connects  her  with 
the  economic  future  of  the  Petite  Entente,  would 
then  enter  into  renewed  business  relations  with 
those  States,  sure  to  lessen  the  present  strained  po- 
litical conditions.  Also  it  would  relieve  the  Allies 
of  that  difficult  problem — setting  Austria  back  on 
her  financial  feet  and  keeping  her  there. 

President  Hainisch  became  really  eloquent  when 
discussing  his  favourite  policy,  the  development  of 
Austria's  idle  wealth  of  natural  resources.  Less 
than  five  years  of  such  a  policy  would,  said  he, 
surely  restore  her  to  a  sound  financial  basis.  Only 
now  is  she  beginning  to  realise  that  within  her  bor- 
ders there  is  undeveloped  water  power  estimated 
at  two  million  horse  power,  and  abundant  brown 
coal,  which  although  inferior  to  Silesian  coal,  never- 
theless finds  a  ready  market.  Within  the  past  year 
aluminum  has  been  discovered  and  is  being  mar- 
keted in  large  quantities,  while  new  deposits  of 
kaolin  are  causing  the  erection  of  numerous  porce- 
lain factories.  He  pointed  out  that  Austria,  even 
within  her  present  shrunken  boundaries,  has 
greater  resources  than  rich,  self-reliant  Switzer- 

[267] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

land.  Also  he  insisted  that  it  was  not  chance  that 
made  Vienna  the  great  mid-European  capital,  since 
it  is  the  natural  transportation  centre  both  of  rail 
and  river,  the  railway  connecting  it  with  the  North 
Sea,  the  Baltic  and  the  Adriatic,  while  the  Danube 
provides  comnmnication  with  the  Balkan  States  and 
the  Black  Sea. 

And  here  is  another  acid  test  for  the  allegation 
that  new  Austria  should  be  suspected  because  she 
is  too  radical.  Whom  did  she  select  as  her  Prime 
Minister  and  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  these 
days  of  social  unrest  throughout  Europe,  to  say 
nothing  of  incipient  bolshevism? — none  other  than 
the  widely  respected  chief  of  Vienna's  efficient  po- 
lice force.  How  can  a  man,  heading  a  government 
that  demands  order  in  days  when  disorder  is  so 
ready  to  break  loose,  be  considered  a  dangerous  rad- 
ical, even  if  his  personal  politics  are  believed  to 
face  forward  instead  of  backward? 

Short,  stocky,  with  closely  cropped  grey  hair 
standing  erect,  his  manner  pleasant  but  never  ex- 
pansive. Chancellor  Schober  retains  in  his  present 
elevated  post  the  popular  approval  he  earned  in  his 
former  office.  He,  too,  is  very  earnest  in  his  belief 
that  Austria's  own  resources  are  to  prove  her  salva- 
[268] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

tion,  and  he  is  both  willing  and  anxious  to  sustain 
that  belief  by  reciting  recent  facts  showing  how 
seriously  her  people  are  addressing  themselves  to 
that  task.  He  is  thoroughly  convinced  that  Vi- 
enna, long  queen  of  the  Danube,  must  lead  in  the 
effort  to  make  this  mighty  stream  once  more  an 
artery  of  commerce.  He  argued  that  the  mer- 
chants and  bankers  of  Vienna  have  so  long  enjoyed 
an  unrivalled  knowledge  of  the  Balkan  markets  and 
how  to  supply  their  needs  that  with  some  adjust- 
ment of  the  new  customs  restrictions  everywhere 
prevailing,  Vienna  will  surely  regain  her  pre-war 
trade  predominance.  He  is  too  good  a  politician 
openly  to  espouse  allegiance  to  a  new  Danube  con- 
federation as  opposed  to  alliance  with  Germany, 
because  that  would  mean  an  irreparable  break  with 
the  Pan-German  delegates  in  his  Parliament.  He 
believes  that  the  question  of  how  Austria  will 
finally  align  herself  must  be  decided  by  future  Par- 
liaments and  their  leaders,  but  that  the  pressing 
need  of  to-day  is  the  development  of  Austria's  nat- 
ural resources  and  the  reopening  of  markets  for 
her  products  up  and  down  the  Danube.  Both 
President  Hainisch  and  Chancellor  Schober  speak 
English,  but  the  latter  is  more  fluent,  perhaps  be- 

[269] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

cause  he  was  always  the  police  official  placed  in 
charge  at  Marienbad  when  King  Edward  of  Eng- 
land visited  that  spa. 

The  war  seems  to  have  left  no  marks  on  Vienna. 
Berlin  is  obviously  sobered  and  impoverished,  but 
the  ancient  Austrian  capital  seems  gayer  than  ever 
it  was.  The  great  depreciation  in  value  of  the 
crown  causes  want  and  suffering  among  certain 
classes,  notably  those  living  on  fixed  incomes,  but 
their  withdrawal  from  the  city's  street  life  is  not 
noticeable  to  tourists.  When  I  was  there  the  banks 
gave  you  2800  crowns  for  a  dollar,  and  although 
prices  had  risen  greatly  from  the  old  days,  they 
were  nevertheless  ridiculously  cheap  if  translated 
into  American  money.  A  bedroom  and  bathroom 
at  one  of  the  best  hotels  cost  ninety  cents  a  day. 
The  cab  to  the  American  Mission  offices  was  about 
3I/2  cents.  A  good  luncheon  cost  9  cents,  and  I 
had  to  visit  five  restaurants  before  finding  a  seat, 
so  greatly  were  they  all  crowded.  At  Budapest 
things  were  even  cheaper.  A  large  double  bed- 
room and  bathroom  at  one  of  the  great  hotels  over- 
looking the  Danube  cost  60  cents.  A  ticket  on  the 
Danube  boat  from  Budapest  to  Vienna,  including 
[270] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

a  private  cabin,  cost  36  cents — a  trip  of  twenty-five 
hours ! 

The  people  who  used  to  have  money  no  longer 
have  it,  while  many  who  had  nothing  have  prof- 
ited from  war  contracts,  and  are  spending  their 
profits.  All  who  work  with  their  hands  are  well 
paid,  but  woe  to  him  who  doesn't  work  but  tries 
to  live  on  a  fixed  income.  The  spirit  of  the  times 
seems  to  say  that  if  a  man  doesn't  work,  why  worry 
about  him?  Let  the  drones  die!  Here  is  a  phe- 
nomenon seen  all  over  the  Continent, — that  millions 
of  Europeans  have  been  killed  or  have  died  of  war's 
privations,  and  yet  houses  are  everywhere  lacking, 
and  trains,  boats  and  hotels  crowded.  The  fact  is 
that  there  has  been  an  upheaval  in  the  lower  strata 
of  society,  beginning  at  the  very  bottom.  Families 
accustomed  to  live  in  one  room,  demand  more 
space.  Villagers  formerly  taking  in  boarders  now 
occupy  their  entire  cottage,  and  so  it  goes.  No- 
where is  this  upheaval  more  noticeable  than  in  Vi- 
enna, where  the  crowded  streets,  shops,  restaurants 
and  hotels  show  throngs  of  smiling,  happy  peo- 
ple enjoying  themselves.  The  proletariat  seems  to 
have  come  into  its  own.  The  country  is  nearly 
bankrupt  but  the  citizens  show  no   signs   of  it. 

[271] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

There  is  no  finer  capital  in  Europe  than  Vienna  and 
certainly  none  of  them  seemed  gayer  than  it  dur- 
ing the  autumn  of  1921. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  say  that  it  does  not  require 
a  long  stay  in  Budapest  and  Vienna  to  convince  an 
American  that  no  business  is  more  pressing  for  the 
various  states  once  forming  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire  than  the  reopening  of  the  old  markets  for 
the  interchange  of  their  products  now  cut  off  from 
each  other  by  throngs  of  customs  officials  circling 
the  new  frontiers.  They  should  all  recognise  that 
interdependence  pays  better  than  excessive  inde- 
pendence, but  they  do  not.  Very  much  the  oppo- 
site ;  in  fact,  the  disheartening  way  in  which  each  is 
holding  back  in  the  hope  that  others  will  open  their 
markets  without  his  doing  the  same  is  well  repre- 
sented by  the  following  story  told  me  one  day  at 
the  Foreign  Office  in  Vienna  by  a  prominent  Aus- 
trian banker.  Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  vil- 
lage priest  so  beloved  by  his  flock  that  they  decided 
to  present  him  with  a  barrel  of  wine.  The  barrel 
was  sent  around  the  village  so  that  each  householder 
could  pour  into  it  two  litres  of  wine.  When  full, 
the  barrel  was  delivered  to  the  priest  with  due  cere- 
mony and  speech  making.  Much  overcome  by  the 
[272] 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED— AUSTRIA 

honour,  he  declared  he  must  drink  the  first  glass  to 
the  health  of  the  village.  He  turned  the  tap  and 
out  came  pure  water!  Each  villager  had  thought 
that  every  other  would  surely  contribute  wine  and 
so  two  litres  of  water  from  himself  would  not  be 
noticed ! 

This  shows  the  attitude  of  mind  to-day  enter- 
tained by  all  the  autonomous  states  released  by  the 
overthrow  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Ausgleich  or 
Compromise.  Each  wants  all  economic  barriers 
thrown  down  but  his  own,  but  until  it  is  done  by  all, 
and  they  regain  the  free  interchange  of  their  prod- 
ucts the  future  is  dark  for  all  of  them.  As  the 
banker  was  telling  me  this  simple  village  tale,  I 
chanced  to  glance  up  at  the  portrait  of  Metternich 
painted  by  Lawrence  during  the  Congress  of  Vi- 
enna in  1815,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  came 
an  appreciative  smile  upon  the  face  of  that  master 
of  playing  off  political  units  one  against  the  other ! 

When  unselfish  statesmanship  among  all  these 
succession  states  shall  bring  about  renewed  barter 
of  commodities,  and  respect  for  rights  of  minorities 
shall  equal  their  general  demand  for  local  auton- 
omy, then  the  common  lot  of  all  those  who  were 
once  ruled  by  the  Hapsburgs  will  be  happier  than 

[273] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ever  before,  because  the  natural  riches  of  their 
grain-bearing  plains,  of  their  mines,  their  forests 
and  their  factories  far  exceed  the  knowledge  of  the 
outside  world  to-day.  In  that  happy  day  there  will 
once  more  come  into  its  own  Hungary  with  its  vig- 
orous Magyar  self-reliance,  and  Austria  directed 
by  the  business  brains  centred  in  Vienna,  so  long 
the  economic  capital  of  all  southeastern  Europe. 


[274] 


CHAPTER  X:  VENIZELOS,  THE  WAN- 
ING TURK  AND  THE  CHANGED 
MEDITERRANEAN 


CHAPTER  X 

VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK  AND  THE 
CHANGED   MEDITERRANEAN 

IN  this  year  of  our  Lord,  1922,  all  roads  lead 
to  America.  Famous  men,  statesmen,  soldiers, 
artists,  all  have  come  to  view  the  United  States 
and  to  receive  their  welcome.  And  as  a  private 
gentleman,  without  any  official  claims  on  his  sight- 
seeing time,  came  Eleutherios  Venizelos,  Eleu- 
therios  the  Liberator,  the  Greek  statesman  whose 
conduct  in  the  Turkish  war  against  Greece  in  189/ 
— the  first  war  won  by  the  Turks  against  any 
Christian  Power  for  some  two  centuries — touched 
the  hearts  and  inflamed  the  imaginations  of  our 
people. 

Although  but  fifty-seven  years  old,  this  eminent 
Greek,  hale  as  he  is,  and  with  his  features  left 
practically  unfurrowed  by  the  troubles  of  his  be- 
loved land,  nevertheless  would  be  taken  for  ten 
years  older.  The  signs  of  age  in  him  are  prema- 
ture, and  doubtless  for  a  decade  to  come  he  will 
look  very  much  as  he  does  to-day. 

[277] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

In  June,  1921,  several  months  before  he  sailed 
for  America,  I  talked  with  Venizelos  in  his  rooms 
at  the  Carlton  Hotel  in  Paris.  Already  he  was 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  he  should  be 
able  to  satisfy  his  curiosity  about  America,  when 
he  should  meet  face  to  face  great  Americans  who 
had  written  encouraging  letters  to  him,  and  finally 
when  he  should  greet  the  American-Greeks  who 
are  opposed  to  King  Constantine  and  who  are 
enthusiastic  admirers  of  the  fallen  minister. 

The  adverse  elections  of  November  15,  1920, 
which  cast  Venizelos  out  of  power  did  not  deprive 
him  of  the  will  or  means  to  labour  for  his  country. 
In  London,  in  Paris,  in  Rome  and  later  in  the 
United  States  his  first  thought  is  for  Greece,  and 
he  is  always  pleading  the  Greek  cause  as  earnestly 
now  as  when  he  was  in  political  control  of  his  gov- 
ernment. 

When  T  remarked  upon  this  loyalty  of  his  to  an 
administration  w^hich  superseded  his  own,  he  re- 
plied with  evident  surprise:  "But  why  shouldn't 
a  Greek  continue  to  work  for  Greece,  no  matter 
what  the  state  of  public  opinion  there?"  He 
seemed  to  entertain  no  resentment  at  having  lost 
the  approval  of  the  Greek  suffrage.  "What  was 
[278] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

to  be  expected?"  said  he.  "The  other  side  could 
promise  everything,  especially  demobilisation, 
whilst  I  could  promise  nothing,  but  must  even  in- 
sist upon  Greece  remaining  under  arms,  a  neces- 
sity which,  even  after  the  opposition's  victory,  had 
to  be  recognised,  so  that  we  are  still  mobilised,  and 
my  Asia  Minor  policy  is  being  followed." 

With  such  a  man  in  either  the  foreground  or 
background  of  Mediterranean  affairs,  highly  re- 
spected in  both  London  and  Paris,  Greece  has  al- 
ways an  anchor  to  windward,  no  matter  whence 
or  whither  the  winds  of  Europe  may  blow.  And 
how  uncertain  was  for  a  long  time  the  swing  in 
Greek  politics  appears  from  the  following  anec- 
dote: 

Early  in  1917  a  Greek  merchant  left  in  a 
Brindisi  warehouse  three  large  cases  which  he  had 
brought  from  Paris,  but  feared  to  send  on  to 
Greece  because  of  submarines.  He  said  they  con- 
tained works  of  art  of  a  readily  salable  character 
and  that  he  would  soon  return  and  take  them  with 
him  to  Athens.  After  waiting  three  years  the 
owner  of  the  warehouse  decided  the  time  had  come 
to  open  the  cases  and  sell  their  contents  to  pay  the 
warehouse   fees.    He  found   a  large   number  of 

[281] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

double-faced  picture  frames,  all  alike,  and  each 
frame  containing  two  pictures,  back  to  back,  one 
of  Venizelos  and  one  of  King  Constantine!  The 
Greek  merchant  evidently  knew  the  political  psy- 
chology of  his  countrymen,  and  had  his  reasons 
for  saying  the  pictures  were  readily  salable. 

From  this  dominating  Greek  statesman  as  from 
his  pohtical  opponents,  Gounaris,  Prime  Minister, 
and  Baltazzi,  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
under  King  Constantine,  one  hears  the  same 
phrase:  ''les  Turcs  s'en  vont  et  il  faut  que  les 
Grecques  les  remplacent"  (the  Turks  are  on  the 
wane  and  their  place  must  be  taken  by  the 
Greeks).  Such  a  point  of  view,  to-day  so  unani- 
mously entertained  by  the  Greeks  of  all  factions, 
is  much  more  far-reaching  than  at  first  appears. 

When  I  talked  with  Mr.  Baltazzi,  a  plump  per- 
son of  medium  height  portentously  solemn  in  man- 
ner and  speech,  this  waning  of  the  Turks  alone 
seemed  to  rouse  him  from  placidity.  It  was  with 
decided  animation  that  he  traced  the  movements  of 
the  Turkish  wave  since  in  the  Middle  Ages  it 
rolled  up  to  the  gates  of  Vienna  threatening  to 
overrun  Europe.  "It  has  long  been  receding,  and 
now  the  tide  is  going  out,"  he  said.  He  realised, 
[282] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

however,  that  thanks  to  the  northwesterly  expan- 
sion of  the  south  Slav  state  of  Serbia  (through  its 
acquisition  of  Croatia  and  Slovenia),  and  also  by 
the  erection  of  that  other  Slav  State,  Czecho- 
slovakia, the  Slav  wave  in  southeastern  Europe 
is  to-day  almost  as  near  Vienna  as  came  the  high- 
est tide  of  the  Turks. 

But  this  pleased  him  as  meaning  a  Slav  swing 
away  from  the  Mediterranean.  Proceeding,  he 
pointed  out  that  the  presence  at  Baku  of  an  im- 
portant Turk  like  Enver  Pasha  aiding  the  Russians 
in  their  attempt  to  bolshevise  Persia  and  Afghan- 
istan as  an  anti-British  move,  and  also  the  treaty 
between  the  Soviets  and  the  Angora  Turks  meant 
that  the  undertow  of  the  Turkish  wave  was  uniting 
with  the  rising  Slav  tide.  "Always  the  Russians 
have  been  expansionists,"  said  he,  "and  always  they 
will  continue  so,  whether  Russia  be  Tsarist  or  re- 
publican or  Soviet.  They  have  always  opposed  the 
English  and  they  have  always  wanted  Constan- 
tinople; what  is  in  the  blood  of  a  people  will  come 
out,  no  matter  what  be  the  type  of  their  leaders." 

Especially  did  his  colleague  Mr.  Gounaris  the 
Prime  Minister  place  accent  on  the  Greeks  being  a 
seafaring  folk,  that  their  natural  tendency  was  not 

[283] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

to  concern  themselves  with  Balkan  problems  to 
their  north,  but  always  to  look  upon  and  across  the 
sea,  and  there  to  seek  their  national  expansion. 
Gounaris  and  Baltazzi  seen  together  form  a  striking 
contrast.  They  certainly  are  "the  long  and  the 
short  of  it"!  We  have  seen  that  Baltazzi  is  cast  in 
a  small  plump  mould.  Gounaris  is  a  tall,  long- 
limbed,  powerfully  built  figure,  with  a  pointed  iron- 
grey  beard.  Though  his  manner  is  lazy,  even 
lounging,  his  sharp  eyes  are  not. 

With  the  Greek  planning  additional  Asia  Minor 
colonies,  with  the  Adriatic  become  an  Italian  lake 
closeable  at  will,  with  the  Turk  under  supervision 
at  Constantinople,  the  Mediterranean  sea  enters 
upon  a  change  in  conditions  almost  as  great  as 
those  which  ensued  when  the  fabled  Europa  tra- 
versed it  safely  on  Jove's  back  and  imited  Europe 
with  Asia, 

The  most  dramatic  change  is,  of  course,  the 
waning  of  the  Turk ;  a  fate  that  he  has  been  stav- 
ing off  since  the  reign  of  Mahmoud  the  Reformer 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  down 
throughout  the  thirty  years'  reign  of  Abdul 
Hamid  who  ascended  the  throne  in  1876.  Their 
policy  and  that  of  the  succeeding  Ottoman  Sul- 
[284] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

tans  had  been  to  give  at  least  a  Western  fa9ade 
to  their  empire. 

What  Abdul  Hamid  foresaw  even  before  his 
own  downfall  has  come  to  pass,  but  in  a  way  he 
never  dreamed  of.  Along  with  a  growth  of  the 
nationalist  movement  subject  race  after  subject 
race  successively  reached  final  emancipation  from 
the  Turkish  rule  until  a  mere  remnant  of  the  su- 
premacy of  the  ruling  race  in  Turkey  was  left  for 
the  Great  War  to  destroy. 

Just  when  the  Mediterranean  seemed  about  to 
become  a  backwater,  then,  presto!  the  Suez  Canal 
was  dug  and  the  quickest  route  from  Europe  to 
the  Far  East  brought  back  to  this  historic  inland 
sea  that  swing  of  sea-borne  commerce  just  pre- 
paring to  desert  it.  Since  that  event  the  political 
history  and  balance  of  the  Mediterranean  altered 
but  little,  and  that  slowly,  until  the  Great  War. 
Since  that  world  convulsion  has  subsided,  a  consid- 
erable change  has  come  over  the  face  of  events  in 
the  Mediterranean.  The  territorial  changes  are 
known  to  all,  but  there  have  been  others  equally 
significant  if  not  so  obvious, — changes  less  of 
physical  than  of  mental  and  political  geography, 

[285] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  it  is  these  which  the  writer  purposes  to  out- 
line. 

Certain  world-wide  tendencies  have  had  a  spe- 
cial local  repercussion  on  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. Great  Britain  has  long  heen  the  world's 
greatest  Mussulman  power,  its  only  serious  rival 
being  Russia,  also  master  of  territory  in  Asia 
where  that  rehgion  had  its  strongest  hold.  And 
what  is  the  changed  position  of  England  in  this 
regard  since  the  war? — for  changed  it  is,  and  seri- 
ously, too.  There  is  trouble  for  her  with  her  Ma- 
homedan  populations  in  India,  in  Egypt,  in 
Mesopotamia,  whilst  her  prestige  with  Mussulmen 
in  Persia  and  Afghanistan  has  been  seriously  im- 
paired. Before  the  war  one  of  the  chief  ambitions 
of  that  histrionic  artist,  the  Kaiser,  was  to  win  for 
himself  that  political  power  as  leader  of  the  Faith- 
ful in  the  Near  East  which  the  English  had  so  long 
enjoyed. 

The  war  has  not  only  swept  away  the  Kaiser  and 
brought  on  trouble  for  the  English  with  many  fol- 
lowers of  the  Prophet,  but  also  it  has  imveiled  a 
growing  fact  hitherto  unnoticed,  i.e.,  the  excellent 
relations  everywhere  existing  between  the  French 
and  peoples  of  the  Mussulman  faith.  Their  success 
[286] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

in  this  regard,  especially  in  their  new  relations  with 
Syria,  calls  our  attention  to  the  fact  that  while  the 
Prophet's  followers  in  many  lands  are  making 
trouble  for  the  English,  nowhere  are  they  trouble- 
some in  French  possessions,  not  in  Syria,  nor  in 
Madagascar,  nor  in  Tunis,  nor  Algeria,  nor  Mo- 
rocco. We  rub  our  eyes  with  astonishment,  and 
yet  are  forced  to  admit  that  to-day  the  most  suc- 
cessful Mussuhnan  power  is  undoubtedly  France. 
When  one  stops  to  consider  this  new  fact,  and  also 
that  the  Mahomedan  faith  predominates  along 
the  whole  southerly  half  and  the  eastern  end  of 
the  Mediterranean,  one  suddenly  realises  the  im- 
portance of  this  change  in  mental  geography. 

Another  great  war-made  change  is  that  the 
Adriatic  has  become  an  Italian  lake,  which  has  a 
twofold  effect  upon  the  Mediterranean,  both  im- 
portant. Firstly,  this  means  that  for  the  future 
Italy  is  less  vulnerable  to  a  great  naval  power,  be- 
cause by  closing  the  entrance  to  the  Adriatic  she 
can  be  attacked  only  on  the  western  side  by  enemy 
warships,  so  that  her  fleet  has  but  one  side  of  the 
peninsula  to  defend  instead  of  two.  Also  this 
means  that  England's  influence  is  by  so  much 
lessened  over  Italy,  and  freer  scope  is  given  to  the 

[287] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

policy  of  those  Italians  who  favour  and  have  al- 
ways favoured  closer  relations  with  Germany. 

Marquis  della  Torretta,  the  Italian  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  is  one  of  these.  A  keen  Sicilian, 
slender,  short  of  stature,  quick  of  eye  and  act, 
trained  in  the  older  school  of  diplomacy,  he  has 
lately  by  his  successful  mediation  at  Venice  be- 
tween Hungary  and  Austria,  gained  a  great  per- 
sonal prestige.  This  prestige  will  certainly  aid 
him  to  further  diplomatic  success  if  and  when  a 
common  frontier  can  be  established  between  Italy 
and  Germany  by  western  Austria  joining  Ger- 
many, to  carry  forward  that  dream  of  many 
pro-German  Italians, — an  Italo-German  corridor 
straight  up  through  the  middle  of  Europe,  down 
which  should  drain  a  vast  commerce  greatly  en- 
riching the  Italian  port  of  Trieste. 

Followers  of  that  grand  old  man  of  Italian  poli- 
tics, Giolitti,  have  long  favoured  such  a  develop- 
ment, but  of  the  master  himself  it  is  said  that  he 
is  less  pro-German  now  than  he  was  before  and 
during  the  war.  In  the  late  spring  of  1921,  Gio- 
litti, fatigued  by  the  strain  of  leadership,  availed 
himself  of  a  parliamentary  vote  criticising  his  Min- 
ister for  Foreign  Affairs,  Count  Sforza,  as  an 
[288] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

excuse  for  resigning.  Even  his  enemies  in  the 
Italian  parliament  hastened  to  explain  they  had 
not  meant  to  attack  Giolitti,  but  he  insisted  upon 
withdrawing  to  take  a  well-earned  rest  in  his  be- 
loved hill  countiy  above  Turin.  It  is  appropriate 
here  to  repeat  that  in  a  conversation  which  I  had 
at  10  Downing  Street,  London,  with  Mr.  Lloyd 
George,  the  British  Prime  Minister,  the  day 
after  Giolitti's  resignation,  he  suddenly  exclaimed: 
"You  are  meeting  all  the  Prime  Ministers  of 
Europe  for  your  book,  well,  don't  fail  to  meet 
Giolitti,  he  is  the  best  of  us  all."  Such  an 
appreciation  of  the  Italian  statesman  by  so  keen 
a  political  observer  as  the  versatile  Welshman 
now  governing  Great  Britain  struck  me  as  most 
significant.  To  my  comment  that  Mr.  Giolitti  was 
no  longer  a  Prime  Minister  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
retorted,  "Well,  he  will  be  Prime  Minister  again 
when  he  has  had  enough  vacation." 

Both  the  Italian  Prime  Minister,  Bonomi,  and 
the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  are  by  political 
affiliation,  friendly  to  Giolitti.  The  former,  a  big, 
sturdy  Milanese,  was  active  in  parliamentary  cir- 
cles before  he  succeeded  Giolitti  as  Prime  Min- 
ister, having  served  with  him  in  several  Cabinets, 

[289] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

and  had  excellent  training  through  his  editorship 
of  the  important  Roman  newspaper  Avanti.  The 
Pan-Italian  dream  of  Cavour  is  well  personified  in 
this  pair  of  cabinet  leaders,  a  combination  of  the 
big  framed  handsome  Prime  Minister  from  the 
extreme  north  of  the  peninsula,  with  the  slender, 
short,  sharp  brained  and  featured  Sicilian.  So  well 
are  they  carrying  on  the  discharge  of  their  duties 
that  gossip  says  Giolitti  believes  that  they  are  doing 
too  well ! 

It  was  the  naval  power  of  England  (plus  the 
diplomatic  skill  of  Barrere,  the  French  Ambas- 
sador) that  lifted  Italy  out  of  the  Triple  Entente, 
and  ranged  her  alongside  the  Allies  against  Ger- 
many, but  if,  by  reason  of  the  Adriatic  becoming 
an  Italian  lake  closeable  at  will,  Italy  need  only 
protect  her  western  coast,  where  will  Italy  be 
found  in  the  next  great  European  outbreak? — 
who  shall  say? 

We  spoke  of  this  as  a  "Firstly"  resultant  upon 
Italy  acquiring  control  of  the  Adriatic — the  Sec- 
ondly is  that  this  very  control  has  set  solidly 
against  Italy  that  greatly  increased  Balkan  power, 
Serbia,  now  grown  into  the  Kingdom  of  the  Serbs, 
Croats  and  Slovenes.  This  new  factor  of  strength 
[290] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

in  southeastern  Europe  is  forced  by  Italy's  con- 
trol of  the  Adriatic  to  face  inward  upon  Eastern 
Europe,  perhaps  to  join  in  a  new  customs  confed- 
eration using  the  Danube  as  its  commercial  artery. 
Anyway  it  eliminates,  at  least  temporarily,  the 
Balkans  from  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  that  ex- 
tent makes  life  easier  for  the  newly-expanded 
Greece. 

Meanwhile,  the  delimiting  of  "spheres  of  influ- 
ence" in  the  Near  East  is  proceeding  right  mer- 
rily, and  slices  of  Turkey  in  Asia  Minor  are  being 
distributed  to  Greece,  Italy,  France  and  England. 
This  is,  of  course,  very  gratifying  to  the  nationals 
of  those  four  countries,  but  it  means  many  new 
customs  frontiers  and  custom  houses,  and  also 
the  economic  competition  of  those  four  peoples 
brought  into  the  closest  possible  contact  and  fric- 
tion upon  that  historic  scene  of  centuries -long  con- 
flict. Any  one  who  has  travelled  down  to  Con- 
stantinople through  the  five  new  or  enlarged 
"Succession  States"  once  belonging  to  that  Dan- 
ube customs  union  called  the  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire,  and  sees  the  economic  disarray  there 
caused  by  frequent  custom  houses  at  many  fron- 
tiers, cannot  help  but  wonder  if  the  trade  of  the 

[291] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Near  East,  lately  all  under  Turkish  rule,  is  not 
going  to  be  similarly  dislocated  by  its  territory 
splitting  up  into  "spheres  of  influence"  among 
four  competing  powers.  If  the  observer  be  an 
American,  he  will  at  least  be  comforted  by  the 
thought  that  we  have  not  been  drawn  into  it  by 
taking  over  Constantinople. 

More  than  once  during  my  visit  to  Balkan  capi- 
tals, did  I  hear  regret  expressed  by  statesmen  that 
when  Constantinople  was  offered  to  President  Wil- 
son at  Versailles,  American  public  opinion  did  not 
endorse  its  acceptance.  They  all  seemed  to  feel 
that  this  disposition  of  the  Golden  Horn  would 
have  removed  from  European  politics  an  apple  of 
discord  and  a  bone  of  contention.  At  present  it 
seems  rather  like  Mahomet's  coffin,  suspended 
half-way  between  the  material  fate  of  falling  as 
loot  to  one  of  the  victorious  Allies,  and  that  supe- 
rior condition  of  a  "protected"  internationalisation. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Russia,  no  matter  what 
form  of  government  she  assumes,  will  continue  to 
press  for  an  opening  of  the  Straits  so  as  to  give 
her  access  to  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
by  all  lovers  of  international  peace  intelligent 
enough  to  recognise  economic  facts  that  the  Straits 
[292] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

will  be  kept  open  to  all  and  sundry,  no  matter 
which  flag  flies  over  Constantinople. 

The  Turks,  like  the  Austrians,  were  a  governing 
class  rather  than  a  nation,  but  the  power  of  both 
has  been  broken  as  a  penalty  for  betting  on  the 
wrong  horse  in  the  World  War.  The  Austro- 
Hungarian  Empire,  split  up  into  autonomous 
parts,  will  one  day,  perhaps  soon,  be  replaced  by 
a  Danube  customs  confederation  of  sovereign 
states:  will  a  similar  fate  befall  those  lands  once 
forming  the  Turkish  Empire?  It  seems  more 
than  doubtful,  because  in  the  latter  case  it  will  not 
be  sovereign  states  arranging  mutual  trade  accom- 
modation all  along  the  Danube,  but  competing 
commercial  nations  exploiting  separated  though 
adjacent  colonial  dependencies. 

The  Turk  as  a  Governor  has  been  eliminated, 
while  the  centre  of  commercial  rivalry  in  the  Medi- 
terranean has  been  moved  further  east  than  for 
centuries,  and  at  the  same  time  the  competitors 
are  drawn  geographically  closer  together  than 
ever  before.  It  will  be  interesting  to  an  outsider 
like  America  to  see  how  the  new  Near  East  cock- 
pit of  commercial  competition  is  going  to  work 

[293] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

out,  especially  with  the  leaven  of  new  nationalism 
fermenting  so  actively  in  nearby  Egypt. 

It  is  an  obvious  conclusion  anent  the  new  Medi- 
terranean that  the  war  has  materially  altered  the 
old  international  balance  around  it.  France,  her 
hold  upon  the  westerly  half  of  the  African  fore- 
shore strengthened,  has  increased  her  holdings  of 
Mussulman  peoples  by  accepting  the  Syrian  man- 
date. Even  greater  significance  must  be  attached 
to  the  fact  unveiled  by  the  War's  changes  that 
France  has  become  the  most  successful  of  all  Mus- 
sulman powers,  for  this  bids  fair  to  mean  even 
more  in  the  world  of  to-morrow  than  it  does  to-day. 

Italy  has  gained  a  sturdier  independence  by  con- 
trolling the  Adriatic,  because  she  can  thus  pre- 
vent any  attack  on  her  backdoor,  and  no  longer 
need  divide  her  fleet  to  defend  both  sides  of  her 
long  peninsula. 

Greece  has  increased  greatly  in  territory,  and 
especially  by  stepping  over  onto  the  nearby  main- 
land of  Asia.  Her  expansion  is,  by  reason  of  a 
limited  population,  less  significant  than  is  the  re- 
cession of  the  Turk  as  Governor,  coupled  with 
that  of  their  combination  with  their  ancient  foes 
the  Russians.  This  strange  amalgam,  however, 
[294] 


VENIZELOS,  THE  WANING  TURK 

seems  likely  to  make  itself  first  felt  in  southeastern 
Europe  rather  than  upon  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. 

England  alone  of  all  the  Mediterranean  powers 
is  not  so  well  off  as  before  the  war,  for  although 
she  has  gained  in  Asia  Minor,  and  though  her  pro- 
tectorate of  Egypt  has  thrown  off  even  nominal 
sovereignty  to  the  Sultan,  still  England's  former 
complete  security  in  the  Nile  valley  and  along  the 
Suez  Canal  was  preferable  to  the  present  ominous 
unrest  there  prevailing.  Also,  she  cannot  avoid 
recognising  the  new  and  highly  significant  fact  that 
France  has  replaced  her  in  that  which  the  Kaiser 
so  greatly  coveted — outstanding  prestige  with 
Mahomedanism,  so  powerful  a  faith  throughout  all 
the  southern  and  eastern  littoral  of  the  great  inland 
sea. 

A  new  era  dawns  for  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  peoples  living  on  its  shores,  an  era  that  must 
recall  that  when  it  formed  the  centre  of  the  civi- 
lised world.  The  new  era  bids  fair  to  equal  the 
ancient  one  in  power  if  not  in  splendour. 

Here  rose  and  fell  the  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
Carthaginians,  Phoenician9>  Romans — a  long  pa- 
rade of  great  powers,  each  growing  and  blossom- 

[295] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ing  only  to  fade  before  other  newer  and  sturdier 
varieties  of  the  genus  homo.  These  forces  were 
not  always  physical,  for  the  faith  of  Moses  and  Ma- 
homet were  born  here,  and  from  the  shores  of  this 
wide  inland  sea  there  sprang  that  greatest  of  all 
appeals  from  the  material  to  the  spiritual — the 
Christian  religion. 


[296] 


CHAPTER  XI:  FAR-EASTERN 
POSTSCRIPT 


CHAPTER  XI 

FAK-EASTERN    POSTSCRIPT 


THE  Foreign  Office  in  Tokyo,  the  Japanese 
capital,  is  called  the  Gaimusho,  and  chronic 
warmongers  (of  whom  there  is  lately  an  over- 
production) impute  to  it  as  much  fiendish  mystery 
and  bloodcurdling  plots  as  used  to  be  portioned 
out  to  74  Wilhelmstrasse,  the  Berlin  Foreign 
Office.  Descending  from  the  upper  ether  of  novel- 
writing  imagination  to  mere  facts,  the  Gaimusho 
is  a  modern  building  of  modest  occidental  archi- 
tecture, sufficiently  roomy  for  its  purpose  without 
being  too  spacious,  handsome  but  not  showy,  a  re- 
spectable but  not  an  impressive  edifice.  It  stands 
in  its  own  grounds  a  little  back  from  a  wide  ave- 
nue not  far  from  the  Imperial  Palace,  and  just 
to  its  left  as  you  enter  the  street  gates  is  the  official 
residence  of  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
That  dignitary,  Viscount  Uchida,  is  a  solidly 
built  man  of  average  height,  silent  even  for  a 
Japanese,  and  of  a  pleasant  but  singularly  un- 
expressive  countenance.    That  does  not  mean  that 

[299] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

he  has  what  we  call  a  "poker  face,"  for  I  take  that 
to  signify  one  of  temporary  immobility  but  which 
at  the  same  time  notifies  you  its  owner  is  being 
astute.  No,  Uchida's  face  shows  placid  unemo- 
tion,  pleasantly  reflected.  He  is  something  of  a 
political  mystery  to  many  Japanese,  for  during 
my  lengthy  stay  in  Japan  they  were  constantly 
expecting  him  to  lose  office — only  he  didn't  and 
he  doesn't!  What  little  he  says  is  politely  and 
clearly  decided;  he  evidently  knows  his  own  mind, 
and  knows  it  promptly.  His  charming  wife  is  a 
graduate  of  Bryn  Mawr  College,  and  roomed  there 
with  an  old  friend  of  ours.  The  Viscountess  when 
an  undergraduate  was  injured  one  day  while  prac- 
tising diving  in  the  college  swimming  pool,  and  she 
spoke  with  much  emotion  of  how  thoughtfully  her 
American  girl  friends  had  kept  her  sick  room 
bright  with  flowers  until  her  recovery. 

There  is  no  danger  of  my  ever  forgetting  my 
last  visit  to  the  Gaimusho,  which  was  upon  the  oc- 
casion of  a  dinner  given  my  wife  and  myself,  De- 
cember 27,  1919,  by  Viscount  Uchida,  then  and 
still  head  of  the  Foreign  Office. 

After  the  ladies  withdrew  to  the  drawing-room 
and  left  us  in  the  dining-room,  an  interesting  con- 
[300] 


r-      ■  ■  ■   '■ 


t^  «-*-«<-    C^<M-»*i.    ejMu*.,^ 


^- 


'^^^»^Jwi^-^ 


/f/<^ 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

versation  ensued  between  the  distinguished  Japa- 
nese sitting  around  the  table,  among  whom  were, 
in  addition  to  the  host,  Mr.  Hanihara  (Vice  Min- 
ister for  Foreign  Affairs),  Viscount  Ishii    (for- 
merly and  now  again  Ambassador  to  Paris),  Vis- 
count Kaneko  of  tlie  Imperial  Privy  Council,  Mr. 
Inouye  (President  of  the  Bank  of  Japan),  etc.    It 
was  good  talk,  fairly  conducted,  and  worth  a  long 
sea  voyage  to  hear.     Just  at  its  height  an  attendant 
brought  word  that  the  Imperial  Hotel  was  on  fire! 
My  little  son  was  asleep  in  that  hotel  and  that  is 
why  there  is  burned  into  my  memory  all  the  inci- 
dents of  that  night, — our  sudden  departure  from 
the  Gaimusho,  the  rush  by  automobile  to  the  blaz- 
ing building,  and  the  tremendous  relief  at  seeing 
our  dear  boy  seated  on  a  bag  at  the  door.     Thanks 
to  a  sudden  change  in  the  wind,  and  also  to  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  coolly  handled  fire  department,  part 
of  the  hotel  was  saved,  so  we  slept  there  instead  of 
accepting  Viscount  Uchida's  courteous  telephone 
offer  of  quarters  at  the  Gaimusho. 

Equally  well  shall  I  always  remember  the 
thoughtful  assistance  rendered  us  that  night  by  Mr. 
Hanihara,  the  Vice  Minister.  I  had  first  heard  of 
him  six  months  earlier  while  crossing  from  San 

[303] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Francisco  to  Honolulu.  Said  a  passenger  on  board 
the  steamer,  "The  two  best  men  in  Japan  for  get- 
ting things  done  are  the  Hara  brothers,"  and  then 
he  laughed.  Wlien  I  enquired  the  reason  for  his 
mirth,  he  replied,  "I  meant  Shidehara  and  Hani- 
hara,  both  officials  at  the  Foreign  Office  and  equally 
efficient,  but  no  kin  to  each  other,  and  quite  dis- 
similar physically  as  well  as  mentally."  His  remark 
came  back  to  me  when  six  weeks  later,  on  board 
a  steamer  going  from  Honolulu  to  Yokohama,  we 
received  news  by  wireless  that  Mr.  Shidehara,  Vice 
Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  had  been  appointed 
Ambassador  to  Washington.  On  reaching  Tokyo 
I  was  not  long  in  learning  how  true  was  my  friend's 
comment  upon  both  Shidehara  and  Hanihara.  The 
former,  a  well-built  figure,  large  for  a  Japanese, 
and  much  larger  than  the  latter,  showed  that  he 
would  succeed  in  Washington  because  obviously  he 
possessed  a  trait  which  is  the  sine  qua  non  of  every 
true  diplomat — the  ability  to  inspire  confidence. 
Everybody  likes  to  be  a  successful  prophet,  so  I 
take  great  pleasure  in  recalling  that  my  prediction 
of  Shidehara's  success  in  America  has  come  true. 
He  was  succeeded  as  Vice  Minister  by  Hanihara, 
who  had  spent  many  years  in  Washington  as  Sec- 
[304] 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

retary  of  Embassy,  and  was  a  very  popular  mem- 
ber of  the  Metropolitan  Club.     Also  he  spent  some 
months  in  California  studying  their  land  laws  af- 
fecting Japanese  aliens,  and  this  I  regret  because 
I  attach  less  importance  to  a  few  thousand  Japa- 
nese labourers  living  away  from  home  than  to  a 
policy  of  large  co-operation  in  the  development  of 
Asian  trade  by  Japanese  and  Americans  working 
on  a  50-50  basis.     That  policy  is  now  being  pushed 
by  many  big  American  companies  regardless  of  any 
government  support.     It  was  by  act  of  God  that 
the   Japanese   were   placed   alongside   the   Asian 
coast,  whose  markets  as  fellow  orientals  they  under- 
stand  far  better   than  we  westerners   ever   will. 
They  need  our  unlimited  capital  and  business  meth- 
ods, and  we  need  their  knowledge  of  market  con- 
ditions differing  so  widely  from  anything  we  know. 
As  partners  we  will  win  great  success,  and  with  that 
success  would  come  the  laying  of  so  dangerous  a 
ghost  as  war  between  our  two  nations.     It  is  not 
out  of  place  here  parenthetically  to  remark  that  it 
will  be  a  great  disappointment  to  many  of  our 
European  friends  if  this  war  does  not  take  place! 
Japan  has  her  yellow  press,  just  as  we  have,  and 
both  are  equally  yellow!    Also  let  me  take  this  op- 

[305] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

portunity  to  record  my  opinion  that  the  only  really 
dangerous  Yellow  Peril  now  confronting  us  on  the 
Pacific  is  this  same  yellow  press  of  the  United 
States  and  Japan.  If  it  were  possible  to  cm'b  their 
"scare  stories,"  pubhc  opinion,  especially  in  our 
western  states  would  not  be  so  subject  to  intermit- 
tent fever.  Chief  among  the  friendly  factors  work- 
ing in  Japan  for  better  relations  with  us  and 
against  this  sensational  journalism  is  that  veteran 
diplomat  Viscount  Kaneko,  a  Harvard  graduate 
and  long  one  of  the  Imperial  Privy  Council. 
Without  either  he  or  his  government  realising  it,  he 
is  an  excellent  barometer  of  official  Japanese  opin- 
ion regarding  America ;  when  he  is  being  consulted 
by  the  authorities,  then  officialdom  is  feeling 
friendly  toward  us:  when  he  is  not,  then  the  mili- 
tarists are  having  their  day. 

Kaneko  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  confidence 
of  President  Roosevelt  to  an  unusual  extent,  and 
my  authority  for  that  statement  was  Roosevelt  him- 
self. One  day  at  Oyster  Bay,  years  after  the 
Russo-Japanese  War  had  passed  into  history, 
Colonel  Roosevelt  told  me  the  whole  story  of  his 
intervention  in  that  conflict,  and  especially  of  the 
episode  when  an  impasse  had  been  reached  because 
[306] 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

Japan  insisted  on  a  cash  indemnity  which  Russia  re- 
fused to  pay.  He  had  bridged  the  abyss  between 
them  by  suggesting  that  if  Japan  would  cancel 
her  indemnity  demand,  he  would  recognise  her 
suzerainty  over  Korea  and  withdraw  the  American 
Minister  from  Seoul,  the  Korean  capital.  He 
trusted  Kaneko,  and  it  was  through  him  that  those 
negotiations  were  successfully  conducted. 

Viscount  Kaneko  is  a  man  who  inspires  friend- 
ship and  confidence,  and  as  such  he  was  recognised 
by  the  great  Emperor,  Mutsuhito.  Among  other 
traits,  the  Emperor  was  conspicuous  for  his  re- 
markable memory  for  details.  One  day  His  Maj- 
esty said  to  Viscount  Kaneko  that  just  before  Com- 
modore Perry  left  Japan,  he  made  many  presents, 
among  them  certain  specimens  of  fine  Oregon  pine 
which  the  Emperor  now  desired  to  present  to  Vis- 
count Kaneko.  The  custodians  of  the  Imperial 
storehouses  had  forgotten  all  about  the  existence  of 
these  specimens  but  finally  the  Imperial  memory 
was  justified  and  they  were  found.  Kaneko  turned 
them  over  to  the  most  gifted  maker  of  lacquer, 
who  after  ten  years  of  continuous  effort,  has  pro- 
duced from  them  a  remarkable  set  of  writing  cases, 
etc.,  now  loaned  for  exhibition  to  the  Imperial 

[307] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

Museum  at  Tokyo  by  their  proud  possessor.  Par- 
ticularly happy  is  the  manner  in  which  the  artist 
hints  at  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  his  decoration  by 
scattering  stars  between  rays  of  the  Rising  Sun. 

Every  foreigner  who  visits  Japan  becomes  well 
acquainted  with  the  graceful  crest  of  the  Tokugawa 
Shoguns — three  asarum  leaves  within  a  golden  cir- 
clet— the  insignia  of  a  mighty  family  that  governed 
Japan  for  nearly  300  years.  The  last  of  this  long 
line  of  Shoguns  resigned  his  power  in  October, 
1867,  and  it  is  his  son  Prince  Tokugawa,  President 
of  the  House  of  Peers  in  the  Japanese  Parliament, 
who  headed  his  country's  delegation  at  the  re- 
cent Washington  Conference.  This  distinguished 
statesman  possesses  a  useful  combination  of  amia- 
bility and  astuteness,  both  fortunately  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  international  peace.  To  him  is  largely 
due  the  excellent  impression  upon  world  public 
opinion  created  by  the  Japanese  representatives 
at  Washington.  Everywhere  he  surprised  and 
pleased  the  Americans  he  met  by  his  frankness. 
During  the  closing  days  of  the  conference,  he 
slipped  over  to  New  York  for  one  evening  to  attend 
a  dinner  in  his  honour,  and  to  the  American  friends 
of  Japan  there  assembled  he  made  an  amazingly 
[308] 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

direct  statement  of  his  country's  attitude  at  the  con- 
ference. "All  news  and  no  fireworks,"  remarked  a 
newspaper  owner  to  me  after  the  Prince  had  fin- 
ished speaking.  The  straightforward  simplicity  of 
the  man  stood  out  in  picturesquely  bold  relief 
against  the  background  of  three  centuries  of  his 
ancestors'  despotic  rule  in  the  secluded  Island 
Kingdom  that  Japan  once  was.  No  other  country 
in  the  world  can  show  such  an  up-to-date  represen- 
tative of  so  powerful  an  ancient  family,  nor  one  who 
takes  so  active  and  useful  a  part  in  the  modern  af- 
fairs of  its  government. 

The  Japanese  Foreign  Office  is  peculiarly  well 
equipped  in  the  personnel  of  its  representatives 
abroad.  Home  politics  are  not  allowed  to  overrule 
efficient  records  in  their  selection,  which  is  a  novel 
thought  to  an  American.  This  does  not  mean  that 
Japanese  chefs  de  mission  are  apt  to  be  all  of  one 
type,  for  they  differ  among  themselves  more  than 
do  the  diplomats  of  almost  any  other  nation.  In 
the  matter  of  inspiring  confidence  (upon  which  I 
lay  perhaps  undue  emphasis)  the  best  of  them  all  is 
my  old  friend  Count  Chinda,  who  served  with  so 
much  distinction  at  the  Embassies  in  Washington, 
Paris,  and  London,  etc.,  and  has  lately  rounded 

[309] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

out  his  fine  career  as  head  of  the  mission  accom- 
panying His  Imperial  Highness,  Crown  Prince 
Hirohito  upon  his  recent  visit  to  Europe.  The 
young  Crown  Prince  made  an  admirable  impression 
wherever  he  went.  When  I  was  privileged  to  be 
presented  to  him  in  Paris,  he  surprised  me  by  the 
excellence  of  his  French.  But  most  surprising  was 
the  democratic  attitude  he  took  not  only  with  for- 
eigners but  also  with  the  Japanese  sailors  on  the 
battleship  which  conveyed  him  abroad.  This  fact 
was  frequently  reported  to  the  Japanese  press  at 
home,  and  created  a  deep  impression  difficult  for 
us  to  understand,  who  do  not  realise  the  religious 
veneration  felt  by  the  Japanese  for  the  family  which 
has  governed  them  for  2500  years.  Soon  after  the 
return  home  of  the  Crown  Prince,  he  was  appointed 
Prince  Regent  because  of  the  continued  ill  health 
of  the  Emperor.  For  this  post  of  great  responsi- 
bility the  European  trip  must  have  afforded  a 
valuable  preparation.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to  Amer- 
icans and  Europeans  alike  to  learn  from  press  an- 
nouncements that  the  Prince  Regent  has  selected  as 
his  adviser  Count  Chinda,  already  the  Chief  Cham- 
berlain of  his  household.  This  means  that  there  will 
always  be  available  for  the  active  chief  of  the 
[310] 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

Japanese  government  the  counsels  of  one  who  un- 
derstands the  points  of  view  upon  matters  interna- 
tional entertained  by  the  great  nations  of  the  West. 

Count  Chinda  is  a  member  of  the  same  colleg-e 
fraternity  as  I.  I  shall  never  forget  my  surprise 
when  he,  as  Ambassador  to  Paris,  first  gave  me 
the  D.K.E.  grip.  He  joined  it  as  a  student  at 
De  Pauw  University,  where  he  roomed  with  the 
present  president  of  the  Indianapolis  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  One  day  during  the  summer  of  1920, 
they  came  out  together  from  London  to  visit  me  in 
the  English  country,  and  it  was  strange  indeed  to 
hear  the  white-haired  Indianian  recount  college 
pranks  played  in  the  old  student  days  by  him  who 
stood  there  every  inch  the  Japanese  Ambassador  to 
the  Court  of  St.  James. 

Perhaps  the  ablest  man  in  the  whole  Japanese 
Foreign  Service  is  Viscount  Ishii,  whose  distin- 
guished service  in  Washington,  Vienna,  twice  in 
Paris,  etc.,  is  well  known.  This  was  recently  and 
significantly  recognised  by  his  selection  as  Chair- 
man of  the  League  of  Nations'  Council  of  Ambas- 
sadors' Committee  charged  with  the  settlement  of 
the  difficult  Silesian  question — too  difficult  to  be 
settled  by  direct  negotiations  between  the  Premiers 

[3U] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

of  the  leading  Allies.  Ishii  is  a  diplomat  of  the 
old  school,  and  nothing  could  differ  more  widely 
than  his  methods  and  those  of  Chinda.  I  remem- 
ber with  much  pleasure  a  dinner  Ishii  gave  for  me 
at  the  Peers  Club  in  Tokyo,  where  a  famous  painter 
came  in  during  the  evening  to  delight  us  with  his 
amazing  skill  in  painting  with  the  thumb  nail. 

My  Japanese  colleague  in  Buenos  Aires  when 
in  1910  we  were  both  Mimsters  to  Argentina  was 
Hioki,  an  agreeable  man,  short  in  statm-e  but  long 
in  intellect.  During  the  Argentine  Centennial  he 
made  a  speech  in  excellent  Spanish,  something 
which  but  few  of  our  colleagues  could  do.  He  is 
equally  fluent  in  English,  French,  German  and  Chi- 
nese. I  used  to  call  him  my  "wicked  friend,"  and 
indeed  there  is  always  something  interesting  going 
on  when  he  is  around — something  worth  observing! 
Later  he  became  Minister  to  China,  and  it  was  he 
who  in  1915  presented  at  Pekin  the  indefensible  21 
demands  of  his  government,  the  one  great  diplo- 
matic blunder  of  modern  Japan,  and  one  which 
many  leading  Japanese  have  since  publicly  de- 
nounced. Hioki,  the  stormy  petrel,  is  now  Am- 
bassador in  Berlin,  presiding  in  the  handsome  house 
once  occupied  by  Charlemagne  Tower  when  Amer- 
[312] 


FAR-EASTERN  POSTSCRIPT 

ican  Ambassador  and  later  purchased  by  the  Japa- 
nese government.  When  shall  we  ever  learn  that 
an  impressive  American  Embassy  or  Legation  is 
of  more  service  to  the  United  States  than  a  post 
office  building  at  Hohokus  Four  Corners! 

By  way  of  contrast  with  Hioki,  let  us  cite  Baron 
Matsui,  for  four  years  Japanese  Ambassador  in 
Paris.  This  gentleman  of  unusual  cultivation  and 
artistic  appreciation  has  a  most  engaging  person- 
ality. Few  foreign  representatives  have  been  so 
sincerely  liked  by  the  Parisians  as  he  and  his  charm- 
ing wife,  and  certainly  few  have  been  received  into 
so  many  French  homes.  Their  little  son  and 
daughter  both  made  remarkable  records  at  Paris 
schools  in  competition  with  French  children.  One 
day  the  Ambassadress  borrowed  my  small  boy  for 
luncheon  and  then  took  all  three  children  to  the 
Auteuil  races,  where  I  heard  the  Japanese  m'chins 
displayed  fully  as  much  decorum  as  my  American 
one!  Matsui  is  now  attached  to  the  Gaimusho,  but 
doubtless  will  again  be  given  a  post  when  Japanese 
policy  demands  his  type  of  brains  and  personality 
for  a  particular  service.  They  have  all  kinds,  ready 
for  any  emergency. 

In  London,  Japan  is  now  represented  by  a  fin- 

[313] 


PRIME  MINISTERS  AND  PRESIDENTS 

ished  administrator,  Baron  Hayashi,  who  won  his 
spurs  by  ten  years'  service  in  Korea.  He  strikes 
an  occidental  as  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  to 
borrow  an  old-fashioned  phrase  leaving  a  pleasant 
taste  in  the  mouth.  He  might  have  stepped  out  of 
an  old  Japanese  print,  and  his  intelligent  face  shows 
kindliness  mixed  with  a  tried  shrewdness.  Simple 
as  is  his  manner,  he  seems  only  suitably  housed  in 
the  handsome  Embassy  at  10  Grosvenor  Square, 
another  wise  purchase  by  the  wise  heads  at  the 
Gaimusho. 

The  foregoing  roll  affords  a  sufficient  series  of 
portraits  to  show  that  the  Gaimusho  is  excellently 
equipped  for  service  to  its  government  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  everywhere  housed  so  as  to  enable 
its  agents  to  perform  their  duties  with  dignity  and 
due  regard  for  foreign  public  opinion  and  popular 
respect.  Any  government  would  be  fortunate  to 
be  so  well  equipped  in  dealing  with  foreign  affairs 
as  are  the  Japanese  both  in  brains  and  plant. 


THE  END 


[314] 


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